ADDRESS BY PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRÉTIEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE CALGARY LEADER'S DINNER

Calgary, Alberta
May 9, 2003

I want to thank those who put together that wonderful video. It brings back a lot of memories. But I am not here to talk about the past. I am here to talk about what we are doing to prepare the future. About an ambitious and activist agenda. Which we set out in the Throne Speech last September. And which is now being implemented.

We committed in the Throne Speech last year to a new urban agenda. To a strategic infrastructure program. Earlier today, Premier Klein and I announced the contributions of our respective governments towards the construction of ring roads around the cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

This project will improve the flow of traffic and ease congestion in the downtown core. It will make our streets safer and the air cleaner. It is an example of partnership between different levels of government.

Canada can face the future with great confidence. I have always said that the unity of the country is the number one priority of any government. The country is now more united than ever. There is no longer a separatist government in Quebec. Jean Charest is a very proud Quebecker and a very proud Canadian.

Like Premier Klein or any other Premier, he will promote and advocate the interests of his province.

The Prime Minister of Canada, whoever he or she is, and the premier of Quebec, or Alberta, or any province, may not always agree on everything. That has always been the case and always will be the case. But it is much easier to work together when provincial and federal governments have a common commitment to Canada. And that is in the best interest of our fellow citizens.

I want to stress that when we disagree on issues, it does not make us any less Canadian. There are differences of views between different Western provinces. And there is no unanimity on all issues within Alberta itself.

I know that there can be differences at times between the government of Alberta and the federal government. There always will be.

But let us not exagerate these differences. Or call them issues of national unity or alienation.

We create a danger of creating self-fulfilling prophecies when any disagreement on policy is automatically described as a manifestation of alienation. Instead of working constructively to resolve problems, and seize opportunities.

The reality is that our unity is strong. So is our economy. The Canadian economy is growing faster than any G-8 economy. We have been creating jobs over the last number of years at a record rate.

Our budget has been balanced six years in a row. And will continue to be balanced in the years ahead. Our debt is continuing to come down. And we are benefitting from the tax cuts of the budgets of 2000 and 2003.

Here in Alberta, the last federal budget delivered a tax regime the oil and gas sector strongly supported. It will help them. To continue to grow and expand. And be an engine for the national economy.

The Canadian economy and the fiscal situation of the country is the envy of industrialized countries around the world.

Just compare the fiscal situation of the federal government to the deficits in Washington. And the balanced budgets in our provinces to the fiscal crisis in all of the states.

Because of this, we can build a future that Canadians want and deserve. Which was exactly the focus of our last budget.

With a prosperous economy and surpluses, we can make choices. And we have. To improve our social programs. This year's budget was the most activist social policy budget since we took office in 1993. It greatly expanded the National Child Benefit. And it provided significant federal investments for the first time in child care.

The building blocks are now in place to ensure that every child has a fair start in life. What we must do in the future is to continue to increase the National Child Benefit and to invest more in child care. To meet our long standing goal of making Canada a country of equality of opportunity – indeed a country of ever widening opportunity.

And I am confident that providing children in low-income families with a better start in life must be and will be a priority of future Liberal governments. Just as it has been a priority of this government.

Preparing Canada for the future means a focus on health. The Health Accord of February this year set as an objective timely access to high quality service. We listened to Canadians.

We have acted to implement the Romanow Commission. Canadians wanted us to safeguard medicare. They wanted to reduce waiting times for medical services. They wanted a plan to ensure that medicare is brought fully into the 21st century. In a manner that is sustainable, innovative and accountable.

Federal and Provincial governments agreed to a plan to achieve these objectives through 34.8 billion dollars of new investments in federal money in health over the next five years.

Investments targeted to home care, primary care, and affordable drugs. Investments in diagnostic equipment and information technology. Which are essential to achieving timely access to high quality services. In other words, reducing waiting times. And a commitment to accountability and reporting to citizens.

The implementation of the Health Accord must be a priority for Federal and Provincial Governments in the years ahead.

Preparing Canada's future means a focus on education. To achieve brain gain rather than brain drain.

We have made choices. To create the 2000 Canada Research Chairs. To boost investments in the Granting Councils. To create the Canadian Institutes of Health Research which we created. And the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

I could go on. We have chosen to ensure Canada's universities are among the most dynamic in the world. With the best teachers, the best students and the best facilities.

The purpose is to ensure that Canada leads the world in innovation, in research, in science, in learning. That all young Canadians have access to excellence and can aspire to excellence.

Let me emphasize a feature of the last budget that should also be celebrated. And that is the creation of 2000 new Canada Graduate Scholarships at the doctoral level and 2000 new Canada Graduate Scholarships at the masters level. Designed to keep the best and brightest Canadian students at Canadian universities. There is no better way to prepare the future than what we are doing with this agenda.

But the rest of the world is not standing still. In promoting the knowledge-based economy. In investing in the brain power of young people. We have built a fantastic platform. And we must continue building aggressively in the years ahead. It must and will be a priority of future governments. Canadians deserve no less.

Preparing Canada's future means a focus on the environment. Our natural beauty, the quality of our environment touch a profoundly shared Canadian value.

We owe it to our children and to future generations to do all that is necessary to ensure clean air and safe water, to preserve our wilderness areas and to address the challenge of climate change.

Sustainable development is not a slogan for today. It is the Canadian way. To find global solutions to global problems. We are working with the United States on air and water quality. We are completing our national parks system. And we are playing our role as global citizens. The ratification of the Kyoto Accord was a highlight of this session of Parliament. And we are moving aggressively to implement a climate change action plan which was funded in the budget.

I have been in Alberta several times since I announced the intention of the government to ratify Kyoto. I have met with the oil and gas industry. My first meeting was not that easy, to say the least. But we worked together. And we demonstrated that with good faith we could resolve problems. And I am delighted to see so much more new investment being announced for the Oilsands.

And while talking about oil and gas, it is more and more certain that there will soon be an application filed to bring Arctic gas south from the MacKenzie Delta. The government will do whatever is required to ensure an efficient and effective regulatory process. We want to see Arctic gas move quickly.

And then we want to see another pipeline bringing American gas south through the Yukon.

Preparing the future means promoting confidence in the political process. We have an ethics package before Parliament today. We expect that it will be law before the summer recess.

There is no more important Bill before the House of Commons today than the reform of political party financing. Transparency. Limits on individual contributions to political parties. A ban on all corporate contributions. With a limited exception of $1,000 per year at the riding level. Increases in public funding of political parties.

I want to thank all corporations who have contributed over the years to political parties. They have performed a service to our political system. But times change, and frankly, public perceptions change. The time for reform is now. But it is not a reflection on those of you who have helped all parties.

This Bill is one of the most significant democratic reforms to be introduced in a long, long time. It is a fundamental commitment of the government. It is a matter of confidence for the government in the House of Commons. And it will soon be law.

I know that political party finance reform is controversial. But we are not afraid to take on controversial issues. It is the right thing to do.

And, for example, we will soon introduce legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. So that young people do not have criminal records for the rest of their lives.

There is a lot of talk these days about Canada's role in the world. Our government has been active in achieving an international land mines treaty. In establishing an international court of criminal justice. With a Canadian as Chief Justice. In promoting the Africa initiative. In the war against terrorism.

Canada has earned a unique role in the world. Disproportionate to our population, or the size of our economy, or the size of our military.

We have earned this place through an unwavering commitment to the values of democracy, human rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. We help our friends most when we are true to that role and the values that underpin it. We have a stake in continuing to strengthen multilateral institutions whether to combat climate change, war crimes, or to make decisions about war.

We will work with our friends and allies, and particularly with the United States, on humanitarian assistance in the reconstruction of Iraq.

We will continue to be a leader in the war against terrorism. And we will continue to play our role in the world in the Canadian way. Later this summer, we will be sending troops to Afghanistan.

Nowhere is this clearer than in our commitment to the partnership of African countries who need global help. To combat AIDS and other diseases. And who are ready to put in place democratic governance as the foundation for economic development.

That is why we are well on our way to achieving our commitment to doubling our international assistance by the year 2010.

My friends, we still have big tasks to complete before I take my retirement. We have an activist agenda to deliver on. It is one that Liberals are proud of. That Canadians believe in. And that leaves Canada strong, energized and confident about the future.

-30-