ADDRESS BY PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRÉTIEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE MAPLE LEAF DINNER

April 29, 2003
Ottawa, Ontario

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.

I have just come back from Toronto, where the whole Cabinet, on behalf of the whole country, demonstrated solidarity with the people of Toronto. Where we announced further action in combatting SARS. Where we re-affirmed that Toronto is a safe place to work and live and visit.

And where once again we paid tribute to the remarkable dedication of the front line health care workers.

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.

Almost eight years have passed since the Quebec Referendum. A lot has been done since then to promote national unity. The Clarity Act is in place.

But most important, today, Mr. Charest was sworn in as Premier of Quebec. We all wish him well. He is a very proud Quebecker and a very proud Canadian. We will work very well together.

Like any Premier of a province, he will promote and advocate the interests of his province. The Prime Minister of Canada whoever he is and the Premier of Quebec or any other province may not always agree on everything. That has always been the case. And that will always be the case. But I know that the Federal Government and the Quebec Government now have a common commitment to Canada. And that is in the best interest of our fellow citizens.

And it will make it much easier to work together.

Just as our unity is strong. So is our economy. It 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 be in balance for as long as we can predict. Our debt is continuing to come down. And we are benefiting from the tax cuts of the budgets of 2000 and 2003.

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

It permits us to build a future that Canadians want and deserve. Which was exactly the focus of our last budget.

With a prosperous economy, we can improve our social programs. This year's budget was the most activist social policy budget since we took office in 1993.

The budget 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.

In recent years the number of children living below the poverty line in Canada has fallen from 16 to 12 percent. We can, and we must, do more.

We must simply increase once again the National Child Benefit and invest more in child care. A robust economy will provide us with the financial means to make these additional investments.

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 timely access to high quality service as its principal objective. And established a plan to achieve it. 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. And a commitment to accountability and reporting to citizens.

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.

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. I was delighted to see that video tonight. Which sets out what this government is doing to achieve brain gain rather than brain drain.

I don't have to repeat the importance of the 2000 Canada Research Chairs. Nor the importance of the investments in the Granting Councils. Nor the importance of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research which we created. And the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. I could go on. The purpose is clear. To ensure that Canada's universities are amongst the best in the world. With the best teachers, the best students and the best facilities.

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 which has not received the attention that it deserves. 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.

Preparing the future means promoting confidence in the political process. We have an ethics package before Parliament. 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.

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 in the government in the House of Commons. It will soon be passed.

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 unnecessary criminal records for the rest of their lives. At the same time, we will have a drug strategy to discourage young people from using drugs. And which will target drug traffickers.

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. 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 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.

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