November 22, 2004
Sao Paulo, Brazil

SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER

Check against delivery

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here with you and to be welcomed so graciously to this remarkable city. I thank you all for coming, and I want to acknowledge the many members of the Canadian business community who are in the audience today. If you’re wondering who they are, they’ll be the people who nod in agreement when I say: Wasn’t that quite a Grey Cup yesterday?

Sao Paulo teems with the arts, with industry, and above all with human energy. There much that our major cities share in common with you – most notably the presence of many dynamic cultures and ethnic neighbourhoods that entwine to imbue San Paulo with its rich international character and its defining diversity.

Canada and Brazil are both immigrant societies. We both have significant aboriginal populations with rich histories. And we share more than that.

As some of you will know, it was a group of Canadians that played a pivotal role in bringing the electric tramway -- and later public utilities -- to this city and to Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the 20th century.

The tramway expanded so quickly here in Sao Paulo, adding new lines and new cars at such a remarkable pace, that customers were often heard to complain of fresh paint rubbing off on their clothes.

The company came to be known as Brazilian Traction, Light and Power. It was a great partnership, one that endured for many decades, one that shaped so many families and forged so many friendships in both Canada and Brazil, one that reminds us of the progress we can make when we as nations and as people work together.

And it is in this context that I want to talk to you today about partnerships: the partnership between Canada and Brazil; the partnership between government and the private sector; the partnership between government and business on the one hand, and citizens on the other.

Allow me to discuss each in turn. And let me begin by speaking frankly.

The relationship between Canada and Brazil has over the years been marked by challenge, and we should not pretend otherwise. There have been commercial disputes and differences, and some tensions remain to this day.

But there are other truths we must not ignore. Our nations share not only a hemisphere, we share goals. We share priorities, at home and in the world. And perhaps most important of all, we share values.

Shortly after taking office almost a year ago, I met with President Lula da Silva in Monterrey, and I was excited by his vision for Brazil and for its role in a changing and increasingly complex world.

I believe the time has come for Canada and Brazil to relaunch our partnership – to strengthen and build on our bilateral relations, to work together to project our common values and promote multilateral solutions to international challenges.

This is not to suggest that our future dealings will be entirely absent of disagreement. No international relationship is without the occasional strain.

Many of you may, at this point, be thinking, ‘Ah, he’s talking about Embraer and Bombardier.’ We are very proud of Bombardier – as Brazil is of Embraer – and I can assure you that the governments of Canada and Brazil are, even at this moment, working hard at finding an enduring solution to this dispute.

Both Canada and Brazil are determined to reach an agreement on this issue so we can refocus our efforts going forward on building a more cooperative and substantive relationship between our two countries. I see my visit to Brazil as a clear step in this direction.

There is so much we share. There is so much we can accomplish. There is tremendous potential here, and it is long past time we seized it.

Now, what do I mean when I speak of common values and beliefs?

Both Canada and Brazil are committed to prudent fiscal management, to pursuing economic growth in the context of equity and fairness. We are committed to ensuring that our citizens can feed and educate their children, find and keep meaningful jobs and have reliable access to quality health care.

I know that President da Silva holds these values close to his heart. Under his leadership, as well as that of his predecessors, Brazil has set about to make itself an example to the world. Your economy is growing, and with the reforms that the President has put in place, together with the hard work and innovation of Brazilians, it is poised to continue growing.

Moreover, with progressive programs like Hunger Zero, First Job, and the Family Fund, more Brazilians are increasingly able to share in the prosperity that comes of economic growth and good government.

President da Silva and his government have not been content simply to promote these ideals at home. They are a driving force for progress and shared prosperity in the hemisphere and in the world. I can assure you, Canada believes in these same goals and we will be proud to work side-by-side with Brazil to see them accomplished. In Canada, we too can take pride in what we have achieved.

Thanks to the support and sacrifice of Canadians, we put an end to almost three decades of chronic budget deficits. We put an end to rising debt and to an underachieving economy. We have budget surpluses now – seven consecutive years of them, in fact. Instead of adding to our debt each year, we are reducing it.

And as a result our economy is strong. Interest rates are low. Inflation is low. Unemployment is almost 40 per cent lower than it was a decade ago. It’s easier now for Canadians to buy a house, pay the bills and find and keep a good job. Prudent economic management has given us the freedom to again make investments in people -- specifically in health care and early childhood learning.

Our common values, our common approach, our common commitment make Canada and Brazil natural partners regionally, in the hemisphere and indeed in the world. What are the issues that require our attention?

In our current age, the changes to the world’s economic, security and political landscapes are increasingly seismic, the global faultlines more unstable and numerous. We can all feel the anxiety of a world on edge.

Canada and Brazil share a desire to be active beyond our borders to protect our values and our interests. We seek to advance the concerns of embattled peoples who strive for freedom, stability, peace and a better life.

That is why Canada has spoken out at the United Nations for the establishment of guidelines to enable the international community to intervene more swiftly and effectively inside sovereign states that perpetrate or fail to stop massive human suffering, such as the ongoing tragedy in Darfur.

We cannot stand idly by as ethnic cleansing, genocide or crimes against humanity take place. It is morally unconscionable.

You, the people of Brazil, understand this. As events in Haiti demonstrate, Brazil is a progressive nation that stands ready to take action to help bring peace and foster conciliation in troubled parts of the world. We salute the leadership role being played by Brazil in Haiti, and we salute the Brazilian troops serving there, working to keep order and re-establish democracy.

Canada has played a significant role in Haiti, too, and Canadian police officers are still there, working side by side with Brazilian peacekeepers, who are under the command of General Augusto Heleno.

Breakdowns like those in Darfur and Haiti are beyond the ability of an individual state to manage, and they challenge the ability of international institutions to respond in an effective manner. The lesson of these recent challenges is that there are gaps in the existing network of international institutions that we as a global community created for ourselves.

Let us not forget: The United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were created more than 60 years ago. They remain valuable institutions, but they and we must be vigilant to ensure that modern solutions are applied to modern problems.

These institutions must adapt to the new challenges they face. And we all must be willing to forge new solutions where the old ones are not working swiftly and effectively enough.

We need what I call a New Multilateralism, in which governments united in their concern about a particular issue and in their commitment to do something about it, together develop a plan of action, and then ensure that an appropriate and beneficial multilateral response is put in place.

This New Multilateralism will put results ahead of process, action ahead of rhetoric. It will address common concerns identified not just by the world’s wealthiest nations but by the diversity of countries who share common interests and ideals and a desire for a better world.

We are living today in a world of rising powers, and Brazil is one of those powers. The values that we share – Brazilians, Canadians and people in many nations – are the values that have the best chance of making the world more secure and more prosperous.

For instance, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate President da Silva for focusing global attention on the fight against hunger and poverty, and on the need to find innovative ways to tackle challenges of common and pressing concern.

In the same spirit, Canada has proposed the establishment of a purpose-built meeting of leaders from twenty nations, a diverse group of countries representative of the global community. We call it the L-20.

This builds on the success of the group of 20 finance ministers, which gathered as recently as this past weekend in Germany.

This group first met some years ago to deal with the economic and financial crises that were facing the world in Asia and Latin America. The meeting was a success. We were able to establish a relaxed collegiality, one not seen in more formal intergovernmental settings. We were, for the most part, able to transcend our parochial interests to deal with common problems. Best of all, we got things done. We made a difference.

When international meetings are purpose-built and transactional, they can be the answer that people and the world are looking for. It is my belief that an L-20, a meeting of national leaders that includes Brazil and Canada, is every bit as necessary, and will be every bit as successful, as the meetings of finance ministers.

In the same vein, the United Nations is clearly the pre-eminent international institution and one the global community needs more than ever. But the world requires a United Nations that is dynamic and flexible, a UN that can develop beneficial and integrated responses to global challenges. And that is why we will continue to press for reforms that enable the United Nations to overcome process to ensure that our common humanity is always at the centre of the UN’s agenda.

Let me turn now to the partnership between governments and the private sector. All too often, businesspeople see government as an obstacle to their ability to achieve success. On the other hand, some in government perceive those in business in the narrowest of ways -- as concerned only with profit.

Both views are caricatures. The truth is far more nuanced than that. The truth is that government and business are critical to one another. A strong and healthy private sector benefits from an effective and progressive government. And governments are better able to fulfill their role when their country has a successful and innovative private sector.

The role of government in the 21st century is to put in place a framework that will enable success. It must establish a secure environment in which business can operate, and it must establish the laws and courts that structure and arbitrate the rules that businesses require to function effectively.

The goal is not simply to enable companies and individuals to earn profits. It is to put in place the conditions that allow the expansion of a successful private sector, which in turn will give citizens the means by which to build better lives for themselves.

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about: I had the pleasure of co-chairing, with former President Zedillo of Mexico, the United Nations Commission on the Private Sector and Development, which underlined two very important conclusions – first, important as foreign investment is, no economy can be successful without thriving entrepreneurship at home; and second, domestic entrepreneurship cannot grow in the absence of good governance, under which both people and business have confidence in how they are governed.

Government cannot be all things to all people. It can’t solve every problem, nor should it try. But it can do the crucial work of providing its citizens with equality of opportunity. And it can be a positive force in raising people up by putting in place the rules by which a strong culture of entrepreneurialism can blossom and thrive.

The leaders of the nations of the Organization of American States recognize this. At the Special Summit in Monterrey earlier this year, the heads of all the democratic countries in the hemisphere committed themselves to measures to improve governance, to promote social and economic development with equity to combat poverty.

I particularly welcome President da Silva’s initiative to advance opportunity for micro-enterprise and small business by cutting red tape in Brazil.

The importance of government-private sector partnership is evident when one speaks of trade as well. Governments can set the rules, but it is the private sector that must take advantage of the opportunities which then arise.

Governments certainly have their part to do. When one surveys the major trade negotiations underway today, one sees the same stumbling blocks arising in each: market access for agricultural products; subsidies; intellectual property; trade in services and government procurement. Canada supports trade agreements that recognise the special needs of the developing world, but even more broadly we believe in liberalised trade.

Let me now speak about the partnership that exists between government and business on the one hand, and our citizens on the other.

Canada is a trading nation and we recognise that opening our markets to others can cause painful adjustments. We can, however, successfully make those adjustments under a government-business partnership, thus facilitating transition by retraining and restructuring our labour force to respond to the new realities.

Canada and Brazil have social programs in place, and both our countries are working to strengthen them because we firmly believe that the right to food, shelter, security, health care and education is universal. But business also has an interest in seeing these fundamental rights respected.

Well managed social programs relieve business of a great deal of the burden of developing a healthy, educated and secure work force, in which men and women are confident that their children will be well taken care of, as will be their parents’ generation. When well managed, and taking into account economies of scale, national social programs can deliver services efficiently and cost effectively in ways that private services simply cannot match.

In fact, a major global accounting firm has identified Canada, for the fifth year in a row, as the lowest-cost place to do business in the G7 -- in large part because of the effectiveness of our social programs.

In closing, let me reiterate that I believe firmly in the potential for a great and productive partnership between our two countries. I say to you today: I am committed to working with President da Silva to relaunch and build our partnership.

We are as nations not just open to doing business with one another. We share a set of values and a list of priorities. We are committed to many of the same global goals. And in the 21st century, relationships based on these commonalities will matter most and will accomplish the most.

I sincerely believe that, through hard work, we will succeed in meeting the challenges of today and tomorrow – bilaterally and multilaterally.

And I believe that countries like Canada and Brazil, so attuned in spirit and so determined to act, can demonstrate to the world the effectiveness of a progressive partnership for achieving the common good, at home and abroad.

Thank you.