March 26, 2004
Winnipeg, Manitoba

SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER

Check against delivery

Last weekend, the Conservative Party of Canada chose Stephen Harper as its leader. Combined with the presence of Jack Layton on the left, the selection of a leader for the united right presents Canadians with a very clear choice in the next election.

One party that advocates government do everything; another advocating that government do nothing. And in between them, the Liberal Party of Canada.

Quite simply, I am confident, that Canadians see no contradiction between fiscal responsibility and a social conscience. And neither do I. So let the debate begin.

Over the next couple of months, expanding on the agenda set out in February’s Speech from the Throne, I intend to put in front of you an ambitious program for moving Canada forward.

Indeed, the work began in earnest, with this week’s budget, in which we delivered a series of downpayments to activate our agenda, recognizing at the same time the need for sound financial management and greater accountability.

Indeed it is within this context of greater accountability that I want to talk to you today about why I believe it is necessary to bring about a fundamental culture shift in the way government operates.

Almost two years ago, long before our new government was sworn into office, and long before the Auditor-General released her report on the sponsorship program, I delivered a speech making it clear that for us, accountability would not be a buzzword. It would be our benchmark in changing the way Ottawa works.

Changing it by reducing the unparalleled powers of the Prime Minister; Changing it by restoring the influence of Parliament; Changing it by reforming the functioning of government.

Upon taking office, December 12th last, we wasted no time in fulfilling that promise. Members of Parliament now matter in a way they haven’t mattered for decades. Free votes in the House of Commons are now a matter of course.

Why is this important? It’s important because it means MPs’ voices are being heard. And that in turn means your voice is being heard.

It is against this background – the need to change the culture of government – that we decided upon the course of action that we adopted, following the Auditor General’s findings on sponsorship.

There were two ways we could have handled her report. We could have swept it under the rug, buried it, ignored it – the “move along, nothing to see here” approach. A tactic that voters are all too familiar with.

The other way was the more difficult option. Don’t cop out. Confront it head on. Admit there’s a serious problem. Then buckle down and do the tough work of finding out what happened, while devising the solutions to ensure it never happens again.

We chose the hard way. We chose it because for us, for me, it was the only way.

Canadians are already aware of the sweeping nature of our response: we immediately referred the Auditor’s findings to a parliamentary committee, which has already had the opportunity to question many current and former officials in government; we immediately mandated a commission of inquiry, which will begin its important work in Montreal; we immediately hired a special counsel who is already at work attempting to recover misappropriated funds. And we suspended or terminated the employment of a number of Crown corporation executives whose behaviour was singled out in the report. And all of this was only the beginning.

Last week, we completely overhauled the way the government appoints those who lead its Crown Corporations. Then we took politics out of the way appointments are made to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Next we assigned to Parliamentarians the right and the responsibility to review the vast majority of senior government appointments.

We moved to extend the reach of Access to Information to those Crown corporations not currently covered. And we put in place a widespread overhaul of the approach we take to government advertising.

That was last week. Now let me tell you about this week.

On Monday, we introduced legislation to protect whistleblowers who come forward to report wrongdoing in government, including the Crown corporations.

On Wednesday, Reg Alcock, as President of the Treasury Board, told Canadians of important new reforms related to the functioning of government.

Foremost among these is the establishment of a real comptroller in each government department, to ensure that the goal of value-for-money is pursued without deviation.

What’s even more important here is that these financial watchdogs will then report to a comptroller-general with greatly enhanced powers – someone who will operate outside the hierarchy of individual departments, someone who will provide government with rigorous oversight to ensure the integrity of government financial transactions.

This initiative was foreshadowed in Tuesday’s budget, a budget that confirmed we would not return to deficit, a feat achieved by no other nation of the G8.

Make no mistake: that is a significant accomplishment – but in the context of our desire to infuse a new culture in Ottawa, the budget was just as important for what was not in it, as for what was.

No election year extravagance. No lavish promises made in an effort to win you over with your own money. The budget was mindful of one basic fiscal fact: that a dollar misspent is a dollar unavailable for health care or education. It is a dollar unavailable to reduce the tax burden on middle-class families.

Now some people have said that in our desire to transform the way Ottawa works, we are moving too fast.

I don’t agree. I believe there are times when the only way to achieve genuine change is to shock the system. In any large institution, there is simply too much inertia supporting the status quo.

There is no denying it: the Auditor General provided a catalyst for some of our reforms. But our commitment to implementing change, to doing things differently, extends far beyond the matters probed in her report.

This is an important point, so let me pause here and give you some context. I want to take you back almost a decade, back inside the Finance Department, where work was underway on the 1995 budget, the budget that eventually led to the elimination of the deficit.

Most governments typically move at an incremental pace. Indeed, throughout the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, a succession of governments had attempted to tackle Canada’s fiscal problems with incremental measures.

The result was an ever escalating deficit. The result was an article in the Wall Street Journal in which Canada’s economy was likened to that of a Third World country. The result was a government that was on the verge of having to answer first to its creditors and second to the needs of its own people.

Let me tell you: I know this first hand. I visited the financial capitals of the world at that time and I sat in the hallowed halls of the International Monetary Fund, and was subjected to the lectures on the perils of fiscal irresponsibility.

Incrementalism had led us to this: the elephant in the room, the one governments had for decades tried to ignore, had grown so large that it was beginning to crack the very foundation of our fiscal house – threatening every social program important to Canadians.

That’s when I knew it wouldn’t be good enough to just reduce the deficit. We’d have to eliminate it. And to do that, we’d need to cast aside old approaches. We’d need to do things differently. We’d need to shock the system.

Well, that’s exactly what we did in the ’95 budget. It was controversial, and it was tough. But it worked – and ultimately it brought us more than a balanced budget, it brought us international respect, and it brought us the ability to plot our own future and make our own choices. It gave us the ability to do the things we as a nation want to do, free from the influence of foreign bankers and creditors.

Well, that was then, this is now. It’s been almost a decade since the 95 budget, but once again, Ottawa faces the need to set aside old approaches, faces the need to start doing thing differently.

As we’ve just seen, this is true in the way government conducts it’s day to day operations. That’s why we made the changes over the past month, that I’ve just described to you!

However, it’s also why Ottawa has to break out of the box, change the paradigm in the way it sets the national agenda. And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about now! I cannot tell you how strongly I feel about this. I believe that hopes and dreams of Canadians are what this country is made of.

And for those dreams to be realized, governments’ first job, is to set great national objectives and then it is to build the national consensus required to achieve them!

Look out at Canada and its people. Look in the homes where we raise our children. Look in our classrooms and our hospitals. Look in the cities and on the reserves. Look in foreign lands where our soldiers serve.

Everywhere, you see Canadians who want to make their contribution and everywhere you see the opportunity for government to take the new steps that will make this possible.

The distance between our coasts is vast. The nature of our culture is diverse. In homes across the country, many languages are spoken, many religious beliefs followed.

But we all have common ground in Canada. We all share the desire to see our country do great things.

We are a prosperous nation, and we have much to be proud of. But there is still much more that we can do. There is much more we must do.

Let’s start with health care. For years now, the federal government and the provinces have agreed that this is the most pressing and most important issue that we face.

And yet for years, too much of the conversation between them has been dominated by feuding to no useful conclusion.

Well, I’ve asked to meet with the premiers this summer – not just for lunch or dinner or even a weekend. But for as long as it takes to put in place a health care system that is properly funded and clearly sustainable.

Let me be even more precise about my objective for this meeting.

Let me take another step toward a new relationship with the provinces and territories by putting our cards on the table, right here, right now.

There WILL be more money for health care. The federal government WILL increase its share of funding.

But to meet the expectations of Canadians we have to do more than simply increase the number of dollars we contribute.

It’s time to look past the year-to-year scramble for short-term, stop-gap solutions. We have to do things differently. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many Canadians, Roy Romanow was right when he said that accomplishing our goals on health care will take transformative change. The kind of change embodied in Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab. A future pillar of a truly national public health network.

Using Roy Romanow’s work as our blueprint, and maintaining our commitment to a publicly funded, universal of health care, I believe we must increase confidence in the system itself – by reducing waiting lists, by expanding services and by delivering on the outcomes that Canadians are looking for.

In the 1960s, when this country created Medicare. It was more than just another government program or federal-provincial agreement. It was, and remains, a statement of our values as a nation. A system that is blind to income so that its eyes can be fixed on need.

Today we must fortify that system and uphold those values. When it comes to health care, we require much more than yet another deal that last only until the next budget.

We require an enduring plan and a sustainable solution. In short, we must stop fighting ABOUT Medicare and start fighting FOR Medicare.

Government doing things differently doesn’t just apply to federal provincial relations and health care! Our cities, our communities large and small are on the front lines of our nations challenges.

Glen Murray was right when he pointed out the need for new sources of predictable, long-term funding – money that permits investment in projects that help make our communities great places to live.

That’s why we moved ahead so quickly with a New Deal for municipalities. And that’s why the federal government must stay at the table to discuss further initiatives with our municipal and provincial partners.

What else must we do? We must work together on immigration and we must do so much more aggressively. Our immigration policies must reflect the fact that many countries that once sent us their best and their brightest – countries such as Italy – are now themselves competing to attract immigrants as their populations age.

Doing things differently means recognizing that the small businesses of today are the multinationals of tomorrow, employers of our people, builders of our economy and they are being starved capital.

Doing things differently means recognizing that access to post-secondary education begins in earliest childhood. That research and development is not only the key to the 21st century economy, it is the greatest gift one generation can give to another.

It means recognizing that urban Aboriginals now comprise more than half of Canada’s aboriginal population – and that just because the Fathers of Confederation did not anticipate this doesn’t mean we should simply ignore what this dynamic means for the future of our country.

What else must we do? We must focus on national security and our armed forces. September the 11th not only changed the world, it changed our place in it.

Clearly, we face new and provocative security challenges both at home and abroad. The demands on our military are not only increasing in number, they are changing in nature. We must adapt and we must be ready.

As well, we must seize the moment to reassert ourselves on the world stage – to speak up with a persuasive voice for equality, human rights and a fairer globalization.

As a government, we will have more to say on these and other issues in the coming weeks. I raise them today to explain why I feel so passionately about changing the way Ottawa works. A national consensus is impossible to achieve when people turn to their government with skepticism rather than hope, suspicion rather than expectation.

The integrity of government cannot be strengthened with words, no matter how forceful or poetic. For people to change their perception of government, it is government that must change first. And it has to change for real.

Well, we are changing for real. We have so much that we want to do, so much that we want Canada to achieve.

I entered politics for the same reason as the thousands of other Canadians who seek to become a member of Parliament. I did it because I wanted to serve the people of my city, my province, my country.

Perhaps today that sounds a bit much to some. Perhaps today such a sentiment – whether it's uttered by the Prime Minister or a first-time candidate struggling to win her party's nomination – will be greeted with cynicism, a rolling of the eyes. But it is how I felt then, and it is how I feel now. And I want other people to feel that way, too. But for that to happen, everyone from the Prime Minister to that first-time candidate must remember one thing.

They must remember that those who are fortunate enough to serve owe a debt to the women and men of Canada. And that debt must be secured with integrity, and it must be repaid with vigilance. That is why we are working so hard to transform the culture of government, to change the way Ottawa works.

Now, I know that some people are going to resist this. Cultural shifts of the magnitude required are never easy to implement.

But, we will not hesitate, and we will not yield. I've spent a lot of time traveling the country during these past few weeks. I've listened to many Canadians.

The women and men of Canada aren't demanding bigger government. They're not demanding smaller government. What they're demanding is better government. One that listens to them, that responds to them, that acts for them.

They want to know that their tax dollars are being treated with respect and allocated with care and wisdom. They want to know that the person they elect to the House of Commons matters; that she or he will work to fulfill their expectations, not just fill a seat.

They want to know that government is focused on the issues that matter most: health care, education, the environment foremost among them. And they want to know that government is on the job!

No one can promise that there will never again be abuse in government, but I can promise the scrutiny that will catch it., as early as possible.

I can promise that any evidence of abuse will be swiftly pursued. I can promise that those responsible for wrongdoing will be held to account. And I can promise that those who report it will be protected.

We as a nation are entering one of the most important decades in our history. It is a decade in which both opportunities and challenges abound. What Canada will come of this decade?

I believe it will be a Canada that recognizes – just as it did a decade ago – that many of the old ways are obsolete – that new solutions required.

I believe it will be a Canada of innovation and ingenuity, of hope and compassion, of generosity and opportunity. A Canada whose government re-engaged its people, achieved a new national consensus, and embarked on a new national purpose.

It’s often hard to say when history brings a country to a turning point. But I believe that time has come.

I believe we will be bold enough to do differently. I believe Canada is ready to take on the world and win.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
let’s go do it!