1997 Confederation Dinner

Four years ago this week our government was sworn into office. At that time, we were talking about how soon Canada would hit a debt wall. Today, we are talking about the size of the budget surplus.

Four years ago, we were talking about the government's desperate need for more money. Today, we are talking about the timing of tax cuts and debt reduction.

Four years ago, we were preoccupied with saving our essential national social programmes. Today, we are beginning to invest in making these programmes stronger.

Four years ago, who would have believed that Canada would create almost one million new jobs between October 1993 and October 1997? Who would have believed that our interest rates would fall far below those of the United States? Who would have believed that we would have inflation lower than 2 per cent, growth close to 4 per cent, and the highest rate of job creation in the G-7?

Four years ago, who would have believed that today all the international forecasters would be predicting that Canada will enter the next century with the best economic performance of the G-7 countries? Who would have believed that next month I would be joining provincial premiers, in a spirit of cooperation to discuss how we can strengthen social programmes in an era of balanced budgets?

Four years ago, the Wall Street Journal wrote that Canada was "a candidate for membership in the Third World". Last week, the Economist of London wrote that Canada has become the "fiscal virtuoso" of the industrialized world.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the result of hard work, bold decisions, the support and sacrifice of the Canadian people and a single-minded determination to get the economic fundamentals right. And the result is a new optimism abroad in the land from coast to coast to coast.

I want to pay tribute to my Minister of Finance, Paul Martin, who is here tonight, for his remarkable achievements in managing the finances of the nation. And I want to tell Canadians that we will never, never again allow the finances of this country to get of control. No longer will we pass on present problems to future generations of Canadians. No longer will we have the large deficit that prevented previous governments from meeting real human needs.

We have removed the burden on the future that the deficit represented. We have begun to invest in the needs of our people, and I'm telling you we will continue. We have already begun reducing the debt as a proportion of the size of the economy. And we have already begun paying down our marketable debt.

Now is the time for Canadians to realize their vast potential. To harness our new optimism. To turn to the next century. To invest wisely and strategically in people and ideas. To play a leadership role in the world. To build a secure foundation for Canada's future.

The struggle against the deficit was not undertaken so that we could celebrate accomplishments of accounting. We fought to reduce the debt burden hanging over an entire generation; we fought so that we could reduce payments to bankers and begin to invest in the future of our young people.

Paying down the debt and reducing taxes are important objectives of the government. Over the course of this mandate, we will pay down debt and we will reduce taxes. But they are not all that government should do.

A government's number one responsibility is to prepare for the future. For our children and our children's children. To build something lasting, and something strong. To prepare for the new century. And that means recognizing that government today can no longer try to be all things to all people. That approach would plunge us right back into the mess we just got out of. And that we will not do. I will not squander our fiscal dividend on a lot of short-term political fixes that are of no lasting benefit.

What government can do -- what government must do -- is target wise and strategic investments in areas of maximum impact. Establishing a small number of priorities, focusing on them with single-minded determination, and acting decisively where we can make a real difference for the long-term benefit of our country.

First, we will keep the economic fundamentals right. We will never go back to the old ways. With a healthy economy, with strong economic growth, with the private sector creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs every year, we will focus over the course of this mandate on four major domestic priority areas to prepare our country for the 21st century: children; health; knowledge and innovation; and a reduction in the tax and debt burden of Canadians.

A country that has decided to invest in its children is a country that is confident in its future. A country that invests successfully in its children will be a country with a better future. By investing today the well-being of our children, we improve the long-term health of our society.

That's why addressing the needs of low-income families with children is both an economic and social priority for our government. We must reduce child poverty in this country. Working with the provinces, we are building a comprehensive and effective National Child Benefit System. Together, government, and citizens must establish a National Children's Agenda to improve the well-being of Canada's children and the long-term well-being of our society.

If we want prosperity and a high quality of life in the next century, we must be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. That is why there can be no wiser investment in the future than investment in education, knowledge and innovation.

In our last budget, we made a huge investment that will pay major long-term dividends. We want the research capacity of our universities and teaching hospitals to be of the highest quality. That is why we created the single largest foundation in Canada and the tenth largest in North America - the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. We made a one-time investment of $800 million designed to help rebuild, over the next 5 to 7 years, the research infrastructure of our universities and teaching hospitals. This will help place Canada in the forefront of the new economy of the next century.

But, we not only have to have first class research facilities, we need a well-educated population. That is why in September, when Parliament opened, I announced that we will establish as our most significant millennium project, a Canada Millennium Scholarship Endowment Fund, designed to reward academic excellence and help low and moderate- income Canadians attend university and college.

We saw in the fiscal update last month that there will be room in the 1997-98 fiscal year both to pay down billions of dollars of marketable debt and to make a very large targeted strategic investment in a high priority area. It is this type of balanced approach that will be characteristic of our government in managing our fiscal dividend.

A one-time payment, one made possible by our successful battle against the deficit, one that will prepare young Canadians for the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. An investment that will pay great economic and social dividends.

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Fund will not be a millennium monument made of bricks and mortar. But when future generations of Canadians look around, they will see its legacy everywhere. In a nation focused on excellence and achievement. In Canadian leadership in the global economy of the 21st century.

And that is what motivates me and my colleagues in this mandate. Ensuring a bright future for a strong and a confident Canada, in a safer, more secure world.

As you all know, earlier this week, I joined with Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams in destroying Canada's last land mines. This important and symbolic act was a demonstration of Canadian leadership as, next month, more than one hundred nations come to Ottawa to sign a treaty banning forever the use of landmines. We worked with others of like-mind and showed doubters that Canada can make a real difference as a force for good in the world.

Our Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy deserves our gratitude and our congratulations. The job has been well-started, but it will not end until we persuade even more countries to sign on. And we will keep working until the last moment and then beyond.

Our actions today will decide the kind of world we pass on in the next century. That is why the need to act on climate change is so pressing. Global warming is happening. And greenhouse gas emissions are a major cause -- on that much we agree.

But we have a responsibility to do what we can to contribute to a solution to climate change. That is our obligation as a global citizen. We will meet that obligation when Canada joins the nations of the world in Kyoto next month to set new global targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

And we have another obligation -- an obligation to Canadians. The world will change and adapt to meet this serious challenge. We can either be in the lead, or be left behind. Remember the lessons of the early 1970s, when the big North American auto manufacturers refused to see the market for more fuel efficient economy cars. Remember the thousands of jobs that cost. Remember how long it took for our car companies to begin to catch up. Let's learn from that mistake by being the world leaders in the research, application and export of green technology. This will ensure that, far from costing our economy in terms of jobs and growth, meeting the challenge of climate change can actually mean greater jobs, growth and prosperity into the next century.

Tonight I want to talk about another important way we are preparing Canada for the next century: by reforming the Canada Pension Plan. Because we have an obligation to deal with major issues relating to the aging of our society.

Just look at the numbers. Thirty years ago when the CPP was created, there were eight working age people in Canada for every retired person. Today, there are five working age people for every retired person. In thirty years, there will be only three working age people for every retired person. That is a very serious problem.

You don't have to be a mathematician to understand that means we need to make major changes to ensure the public pension system is there not just for you and me, but for our children and their children when it is their time. It would have been easy to do nothing. That is what governments did in the past. They did not have the courage to make the changes to keep the pension system sustainable. They let it slide. But we are not going to take that easy road.

That is why, last spring, following a comprehensive, cross-Canada consultation, we decided with the provinces to make the changes necessary to keep the Canada Pension Plan alive and healthy through the next century.

The Canadian people gave us the mandate in the election to make those changes. In a few weeks, we will pass those changes in Parliament, making us the first major industrialized country in the world to ensure the sustainability of its public pension system in the next century.

I know there are some who complain about the increase in premiums. There are some, like the Reform Party and some analysts in the financial sector, who don't think we should have a public pension system. They would scrap the CPP and replace them with a so-called super- RRSP. I think Registered Retirement Saving Plans are important. I support them. Like most of you, when I have money, I buy them. They are wise investments that I recommend. But they can never take the place of public pensions.

Canadians want a basic retirement pension they can count on -- one that does not depend on a fluctuating market. They want a pension that the Canadian government stands behind. Not one that depends on how well the stock market is doing.

Can you imagine how Canadians would have felt if their entire retirement pensions were at stake with the dramatic market drops of Monday last week? It is one thing for people who invest in the market to weather those kinds of episodes. There is risk of potential loss and potential gain. Leave it to those who are in a position to take those risks. But don't subject people who want only the security and predictability of a public pension. They have worked hard -- very hard. They deserve better.

I want to tell the Reform Party and their occasional allies in some business pages, that this is not what Canada is all about: the survival of the fittest -- or the fattest. It is about dignity. It is about respect. It is about a decent quality of life. It is about pooling risk and caring for one another. It is about providing a basic minimum for those who have worked all their lives to build this great country.

And we will not abandon that responsibility in the next century.