Canadian Club Luncheon

I am delighted to be the final guest in your Prime Ministers Speakers series. It is a notable public service for the Canadian Club to have invited me and all the former living Prime Ministers to speak in this series which marks the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Club in Toronto. Each of my predecessors who has spoken to you - whether we agree or disagree with all of their views - is someone who has contributed to Canada and tried in his or her own way to make it a better country. Each has demonstrated that public service is a noble calling. Each deserves our appreciation and our respect.

The Canadian Club here in Toronto has been around for a good part of our history as a nation. It has been witness to the growth and development of Canada. It has seen that our country has always been able to respond to the challenge of change.

Canada was founded on an explicit accommodation to protect differences in language, religion and culture. That fundamental approach has conditioned the rest of our history. The Canadian mosaic is very different from the American melting-pot. We have developed our own identity in the northern half of North America.

In 1900, Sir Wilfrid Laurier compared Canada to a Gothic cathedral he had visited in England in which granite, marble, oak and other materials were blended. Laurier said, and I quote:

"This cathedral is the image of the nation that I hope to see Canada become. As long as I live, as long as I have the power to labour in the service of my country, I shall repel the idea of changing the nature of its different elements. I want the marble to remain the marble; I want the granite to remain the granite; I want the oak to remain the oak; I want to take all these elements and build a nation that will be foremost amongst the great powers of the world."

Laurier indeed built well. Almost one hundred years later, the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, would say in the Parliament of Canada, and I quote:

"In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that literally tear nations apart, Canada has stood for all of us as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity and respect."

Over the last one hundred years, by welcoming millions of people from around the world of different languages, religions, and backgrounds, we have built a land of opportunity for all. Canadians today believe that our two official languages and our multi-cultural heritage are great sources of richness for our society and indeed are a model for the next century.

Two days ago, we celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Lester Pearson. Of course, one reason Mr. Pearson is notable in this city is that he is the only Prime Minister born in Toronto. I know it might seem remarkable that a great city like Toronto has generated only one Prime Minister. But then again, the same goes for Shawinigan.

I entered Parliament the year Mr. Pearson became Prime Minister. We were very different people. He was an Anglophone, who barely spoke French, a Methodist Minister's son and grandson, and a great diplomat who chose his words carefully. When we met in 1963, I hardly spoke English and was certainly not a Methodist and, according to Aline, I did not always choose my words carefully. I was young and he was not, but I quickly discovered that his heart and mind were always with the young. He wanted to make Canada a fairer, more tolerant, and more generous nation for future generations of Canadians whatever their background. That must always be our goal. He had the courage to change his country from what it was before.

When I came to Ottawa, a Francophone too often felt as an outsider in his own country's capital. Today we have a bilingual, bi-cultural capital, where French and English, two great languages co-exist. I came to Ottawa when the Red Ensign flew on the Parliament buildings. Now our own flag, a proud national symbol, the legacy of Mr. Pearson, waves on the Parliament Buildings.

I came to Ottawa when we had no contributory Canada Pension Plan. I came to Ottawa when we had no Canada Student Loan Programme; I came to Ottawa when we had no Medicare. Because of Mr. Pearson and his colleagues, these great social programmes are all now in place. It is our challenge today to sustain, expand and adapt these programmes to the needs of the 21st century.

When the 20th century began, there was no Medicare, no pensions, few universities, and lots of small towns. But there were many dreams. I don't know what the young Lester Pearson dreamed in Toronto a century ago, but I do know that he came to share the dream of Laurier, that Canada in the 20th century would take her place among the nations of the world; and that Canada would lead by example, not by battleships and bluster. We Canadians have lived that century, fought its wars, celebrated the peace, shared our wealth, bettered the lives of our people, and won the respect of the world. We will begin the new century as confident as Laurier was when the 20th century began. What we've shared together is the legacy we inherited; what we will do together is the legacy we will leave to future generations.

We have a deep commitment to social values and to a sense of collective social responsibility. This is part of what makes this country a better place to live. We have developed a system of universal public health care - Medicare - which has become a part of the very fabric of our society. We do not believe in two-tier health care. For us, access to the health care system must be determined strictly by an individual's medical needs, not by the size of his or her bank account.

As I said, I was there when Mr. Pearson introduced Medicare. I want to be the Prime Minister who works with Canadians in the years ahead to secure, modernize, and expand our universal public health care system to meet the new health care requirements of the 21st century.

Our sense of social responsibility means a deep commitment to ensuring a decent retirement for our senior citizens. Many countries have as yet been unable to make the reforms necessary to sustain their public pension systems into the next century. I am very proud that we Canadians have recently been able to make the difficult decisions required to ensure the modernization and long-term sustainability of our public pension system.

But just as previous Prime Ministers took measures which substantially reduced poverty among the elderly, I want to be the Prime Minister who works with Canadians to address the great social challenge of today, and that is to reduce poverty among families with children.

Our sense of community is found in our commitment to safe streets and safe cities. One way of achieving safe communities is to learn the hard lessons of others. We have recently enacted one of the toughest gun control laws in the western world. And I must say that despite the great success of NAFTA, I am very pleased that the National Rifle Association was unsuccessful in its attempt to export some of its expertise to Canada. I know today that there are political leaders who want to repeal gun control. Ladies and Gentlemen, not this Prime Minister.

Our sense of community and our relatively small but far flung population have meant that government has played an important role in the development of our country. We believe that government can and must be a force for good in society. But we also know that the only way a government can focus on the needs of the future is to deal effectively in the present with the financial problems inherited from the past.

Our government is well into the fourth year of its mandate. When we took office, we faced enormous fiscal problems. A deficit approaching 6% of Gross Domestic Product, and ever increasing interest payments on the national debt were severely restricting our freedom to make decisions about our collective future. The more we paid bankers, the less we had for the priorities Canadians value. The more indebted we were, the higher our interest rates, the less business could invest, with the consequence that unemployment was over 11% when we took office.

We took dramatic, decisive action. From the worst fiscal record in the G-7 next to Italy, we now have the best. By the end of the current fiscal year, our deficit will be less than 2% of Gross Domestic product. And by 1998-99, if we were to measure our accounts in the same way as other western countries do theirs, we will be the only G-7 country in balance. And our interest rates are now lower than they have been in 35 years.

The result of the economic policies of the Liberal government: The IMF puts Canada at the head of the industrialized countries in its economic forecasts for 1997 and 1998. According to these forecasts, the Canadian economy will grow by 3.5% this year, and 3.4% in 1998. Two days ago, the director of the IMF noted that these figures indicate strong economic fundamentals, and a strong performance in the years ahead. He congratulated the Canadian government for creating a healthy climate for growth.

Today some of those who 4 years ago were referring to Canada in the international press as an economic basket case, are talking of the "Canadian miracle" and holding us up as an example for the world.

What a remarkable accomplishment. But it is more, much much more, than the accomplishment of the government. It is the accomplishment of a nation. The Canadian people wanted the job done. Their discipline and their commitment have been the key to getting the job done. And they, above all, deserve the credit for the progress we have made.

Getting our fiscal house in order does not relieve government of its responsibilities. It allows governments to fulfill their responsibilities. I believe that governments in western countries will be judged not only on their ability to get their fiscal house in order, but also on the priorities they choose once they have fiscal room to act. The priorities a government chooses are a reflection of the values it holds.

In our last budget, we began to take steps in 3 priority areas to prepare our country for the next century. First, we began to allocate resources to reduce child poverty; second, to prepare ourselves for the economy of the 21st century, we allocated substantial resources to the research and development infrastructure of our country and to access to post-secondary education; third, we allocated resources to modernizing our cherished public health care system. These will continue to be our major priorities as we have more fiscal room.

We have not finished the job, but we are ahead of schedule. We cannot and will not deviate from our fiscal course. This is no time to throw away the remarkable gains of the last four years. I want to be the Prime Minister whose government builds the foundations of a strong economy and a strong society for the 21st century.

Today we can say that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter. This means that we can do more now than just make tough choices on what to cut. We now have the freedom and the opportunity to make choices on how we will invest for the 21st century. Canadians must now decide what kind of country they want to build with the hard-won dividend that will be there from our collective effort to restore health to our public finances. And these choices will go to the very core of what we stand for as a society.

I referred a few moments ago to Mr. Pearson's courage in changing his country from what it was before. It was not easy then; and it is not easy now. Mr. Pearson worked to bring together the very disparate views and attitudes in a country as vast as ours. He believed in governments working together; he always spoke of cooperative federalism; Mr. Pearson's success came from taking one solid step at a time. Because governing is hard and sometimes unpredictable, he sometimes took two steps forward and one step backwards or even sideways. But he always ended up where he wanted to go. That is a lesson I have learned from him and it is a lesson I apply to the governing of the country, and will continue to apply in the years ahead.

Just as we have made fundamental changes in the economic management of the country, we have redoubled our efforts, particularly since the referendum in Quebec, to make the country work. To make this country work means addressing the problems of all provinces and regions, and not just British Columbia or just the Atlantic, just Ontario or just Quebec or just the Prairies. But all of Canada. Strengthening and uniting Canada is a work of every day. And we are bringing about very significant change quietly, practically, one step at a time, but must important, successfully. Let me give ten examples.

• One: the manpower agreements with Quebec, Alberta, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Newfoundland;
• Two: the fishery agreement with British Columbia;
• Three: the residency agreement with British Columbia;
• Four: the agreement with Alberta on preserving the Canada Health Act;
• Five: the agreement with all provinces to establish a National Child Tax Benefit to reduce child poverty;
• Six: Team Canada - the 3 most successful trade missions in the history of Canada - bringing together the Prime Minister, Premiers, and the private sector to seek markets abroad and create jobs at home;
• Seven: the first ever internal trade agreement between the provinces;
• Eight: the agreement to reform and sustain the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan so that they will be sustainable over the long term;
• Nine: the agreement with provinces on environmental harmonization;
• Ten: the Distinct Society Resolution in the House of Commons.

These are just ten examples, and I have not talked about the law giving each region a veto over constitutional change. Or about the restriction on the federal spending power. Or about the clarification of roles and responsibilities of government in the areas such as social housing, mining, forestry. Or about the Canada Health and Social Transfer. None of this is dramatic; that is not my style. But, just as our economic and social reforms position us well for the opportunities of the 21st century, our collaboration with the provinces to reform the workings of our country means that we will enter the new century with a modern and forward looking approach to government.

Keeping Canada united is the single most important duty and responsibility of a national government and of a Prime Minister. I have spent my life working to build this country. I have spent my life working so that my own people and my own province can be full partners and full contributors to a country that spans a continent. I have spent my life striving to make this country a land of opportunity for all. I have spent my life working to unite this country.

There will be a lot of speeches made, there will be a lot of commitments made in the days and weeks to come. I want to close today by saying simply that there is one commitment that I will make that is more important than all of the others put together. It is simply this, with every ounce of energy I have, with the support of my colleagues and my fellow Canadians, we will keep this wonderful country united and we will make it a model for the world.