Response to the Speech from the Throne - 2
Clearly, Canadians face particular challenges following the referendum result in Quebec. This is not a time for major constitutional change. We must continue to adapt, modernize and develop our federation. I believe we can do so by focussing on practical steps within a spirit that respects the principles of federalism.
The operation of our federation should be responsive to our common needs and diversity. It should show respect for each other and our institutions. It should involve partnership and dialogue between our governments and citizens. It should be flexible. It should aim for efficiency and effectiveness in addressing our problems.
The fact is that Canada has largely operated in this way in the past. The federation has proven remarkably flexible and responsive to Canadians.
What I propose now is a concerted effort between the federal and provincial governments to address a number of outstanding issues in the operation of the federation with a particular focus on strengthening our economic and social union. Our effort should focus on practical, concrete steps rather than a grand design or the emotional symbols of major constitutional change.
Canada's economic union has been one of our greatest successes. Canadians underestimate the depth of our economic integration -- which goes far beyond the economic integration we have with any foreign country, including the United States.
Over the past generation, we have seen regional disparities in Canada diminish. We have largely closed the gap between Canadian and American standards of living. But we still have not taken full advantage of our economic union. Maximizing this advantage is key to ensuring Canadian competitiveness internationally.
I invite the provinces and all Canadians to consider how we can improve our economic union. To enhance labour mobility between provinces. To reduce internal barriers to trade. To improve our internal capital markets. To enhance the sharing of technical knowledge. And to cooperate better abroad.
There is a strong consensus in Canada to promote our social union. The people want governments to work together to modernize our social safety net to ensure that it is sustainable in the long term and continues to reflect the values of Canadians from coast to coast. Working with provinces and individual Canadians, beginning with the principles that we have in common, our government will explore new approaches to social policy issues.
The development of our social union needs to respect the spirit of our federation as well as the fiscal realities we confront. In recognition of this, the government makes a formal engagement
that any new national cost-shared programs in areas of exclusive provincial responsibility will require prior agreement of a majority of provinces. Such programs will be designed so that provinces choosing not to participate will be compensated provided they establish initiatives which are equivalent or compatible with national objectives.
This is the first time any federal government has undertaken formally to restrict its use of the spending power outside a constitutional negotiation. Our undertaking recognizes that the use of this power for shared-cost programs has been a source of tension with the provinces. We believe we can build our social union within this spirit, as well as through other, non-financial means.
Canadians want their governments to be flexible and to work effectively as partners so that the country functions well. We will work with the provinces to ensure that Canadians are served by the most appropriate level of government.
In a number of areas, the federal government no longer has to be involved in order to serve its citizens effectively. We have made a start on transferring transportation infrastructures to municipal authorities and the private sector. Then, we had a tourism program managed by the Department of Industry. Last year the tourism industry recommended that the private sector be made responsible for managing this program in cooperation with the public sector.
We agreed. We withdrew from our own program and the Canadian Tourism Commission was set up. It is managed by the tourist industry in cooperation with the federal and provincial governments, with all parties working together. This has been a remarkable success which serves as a model of partnership between the various levels of government and the private sector for the 21st century.
The federal government is also prepared to withdraw from its functions in such areas as labour market training, forestry, mining and recreation, that in the 21st century will be more appropriately the responsibility of others -- provinces, municipalities or the private sector.
There are a number of fields in which both levels of government have a genuine role to play. In those sectors, we must achieve maximum efficiency in our actions, to ensure that taxpayers get value for money. The government will ask the provinces to increase their efforts to eliminate duplication and overlap and identify other grey areas that could be discussed.
In the months to come, a First Ministers' Conference will consider better ways of working together for job creation in Canada; how to secure the social safety net and, how to put in place a common agenda for change to renew Canada.
Preserving and enhancing Canadian unity requires more than a rebalancing of roles and responsibilities of levels of government. It requires us to remember what we have in common, by promoting culture, the arts and our heritage. We will do this.
Preserving Canadian unity requires us to offer, to Quebecers tempted by an alternative, a nobler vision -- of a Canada in which Quebecers, like all Canadians, feel at home wherever they are in the country; a Canada that believes it is the best assurance of the French fact in North America.
Democracies endowed with more than one official language, and accordingly a broader window on the universe of cultures, make special arrangements to help their linguistic groups live together in harmony. Our Official Languages Act and the recognition of language rights in the Constitution are a model of such arrangements. We need only go further and recognize as a strength, as a piece of good fortune for Canada, that Anglophone America contains a society that functions in French and takes action so that it can continue to do so.
On a continent where only one person in forty is Francophone, we must all appreciate the concerns of many of our Francophone fellow citizens. They are worried not only about the survival of their language and culture, but also about their development.
Quebec wants to be recognized as a distinct society through its language, its culture and its institutions. The House of Commons has passed a resolution in those terms, and a regional veto guaranteeing that there will be no constitutional change without the consent of every region of Canada was also approved.
We want to entrench these changes in the Constitution. We know it will not be easy. We must convince and explain that recognizing the distinctness of Quebec society does not take anything away from anyone but simply reflects reality. A reality that represents an asset for our country.
Last week, we all found out what the former Premier of Quebec would have said if the result on October 30 had been in his favour. The result was irreversible; democracy had spoken; the page had been turned; everyone had to support the choice. Why not accept that Quebecers chose Canada for the second time in 15 years? Why not concentrate all our energy and resources on building the future of our country together?
Canada needs political stability to ensure its economic stability, so that Montreal will find the road back to prosperity, Toronto will develop further and Vancouver will continue its growth. In fact every Canadian city, town and region needs it. Political stability benefits all Canadians.
Let us work together to preserve what we have built together. It will not be easy. But it was never easy to build this great country in which we have the extraordinary good fortune to live. Canada was built with courage and determination. It was built with a desire to live together, recognizing that our differences are also our strengths. That is our heritage. It is up to us to preserve and build on it.
Mr. Speaker, there are different ways of measuring greatness. Some measure the greatness of nations in terms of wealth or power. I believe we in Canada have found our own special definition of greatness -- by achieving the greatest balance between economic success and social justice of any nation.
I have had the privilege of travelling to foreign countries, representing Canada and Canadians to the world. And I have had the opportunity to see how the world sees Canada. What it sees is very much a real country -- make no mistake about it. But it sees much more. It sees a large and diverse society that has turned diversity into prosperity. It sees a country of promise and integrity -- built by people from every corner of the world. It sees a land where each individual citizen has the opportunity to be the best they can possibly be -- but where there is also a true sense of caring and compassion -- a true sense of community.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen that when the world looks to Canada what they see is the future. Or rather the best hope for the future -- of the world. Together, let's build that model of hope and confidence. That model for all mankind.