Notes for an Address by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on
the Occasion of the 3rd World Chambers Congress
September 16, 2003
Québec City, Quebec
I am delighted to be here to address the Annual Meeting of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce and the World Chambers Congress.
I want to take this occasion to welcome delegates from around the world to
Canada. And to Québec City. You have come
to a country that is in very, very good shape. A confident country. With a
fantastic future.
I am glad that you are holding international meetings in Québec
City today. Because the situation in Canada is now very different than it was
the first time I addressed the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Chamber of
Commerce as Prime Minister.
It was nine years ago this week that I spoke here in Québec
City to the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The mood in the
room was very sombre. Not upbeat like today.
At that time, Canada had seen 28 straight years of budget deficits.
Thirty-seven cents of every dollar of government spending went to debt service
charges. Our debt to GDP ratio was 71% and rising. High interest rates, and
relatively high taxes were discouraging investments and harming our quality of
life. Unemployment was high and job creation was slow. And a separatist
government had just been elected in the Province of Québec.
The Wall Street Journal was calling Canada a candidate for third world status.
In my speech that day, I set out what the government was going to try to do
to turn the situation around. It was an ambitious agenda. But an agenda which
cynics and even realists probably did not expect us to achieve. But achieve it
we did. With the help and support, discipline and leadership of Canadians. And
that is why the country is in such good shape today. That is why the
international press now talks about the Canadian model with admiration.
We did not govern for the short term. We took a longer term view. And, I
believe, we transformed Canada and prepared it well for the 21st
Century. So that today we are probably better positioned that any other
industrialized country.
Let me review for a few minutes what I talked about nine years ago.
We knew that sustained job creation required structural reform to make our
labour markets more flexible.
I promised that day in Québec City a
reform of unemployment insurance to shift it from passive assistance to active
help for people to find jobs. We implemented that structural reform and took
other steps to make our labour markets more flexible. Premium rates have
drastically been reduced for employers and employees. Parental and maternity
benefits have substantially increased. I think, while there is much more to do,
we can say we have delivered.
We knew that we had to prepare Canadians for the new economy. I promised that
day in Québec City that the government
would help Canadians to further their studies and acquire the knowledge
necessary to prepare for the specialized jobs of tomorrow.
Today, we can look with pride at what we have accomplished in terms of
scholarships, savings for post-secondary education, research, faculty
recruitment and a huge university infrastructure program. Here, too, while there
still is much more to do, we can say we have delivered.
I promised that day in Québec City that
we would help eliminate obstacles for single parent families and persons with
disabilities to find work. We have made huge progress in these areas.
Particularly, through the National Child Benefit which is the single most
important new social program since medicare.
Here, too, while there is much more to do, we can say we delivered.
When we took office, we inherited a 42 billion dollars deficit. Which was 6%
of GDP. We promised to reduce it to 3% by the end of the third year of our
mandate. And, here in Québec City, I
outlined how we would proceed with a top to bottom review of all departmental
programs. We reduced the size of the public service. We cut unnecessary
programs. We reduced program spending from 16% of GDP in 1994 to just over 12%.
We succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Here, too, we can say we
delivered.
In the space of four years, the federal government eliminated the total
federal deficit. And we have now had six balanced budgets in a row. We have cut
our debt to GDP ratio from 71% to just over 40% and we have paid down more than
55 billion dollars of debt. Debt servicing charges are now about 20 cents for
every dollar of government revenue. We made the largest tax cut in Canadian
history. Taxes are still coming down and interest rates are lower than they have
been for many decades.
We are the only G-7 country to have a surplus this year and to project a
surplus for next year.
I also promised concrete measures to improve the business climate for
entrepreneurs, to help business benefit from new technologies, to develop
foreign markets, and to promote Canadian tourism. I stated my support for Team
Canada approach to trade. In each of these areas we can say we delivered.
And, that day in Québec City, shortly
after the election of the Parti Québécois,
I set out that the first duty of a Prime Minister of Canada is to maintain
national unity. And I made it very clear that I would fulfill that duty. We went
through a difficult time. But, today, we have a federalist government in Québec.
Federalists have the majority of seats from Québec
in the House of Commons.
And, to say the least, my party is looking forward to the next federal
election much, much more than is the Bloc Québécois.
So, here too, although the job is never complete, we can say we delivered.
I am extraordinarily proud of these achievements. I am proud that we have put
our public pension system on a sustainable basis for the next 50 years.
Something no other country has done.
I am proud that the economy has been able to generate nearly three million
new jobs since we have been in office.
I am proud that our standard of living has increased by 20% since 1997.
I believe that my successor will inherit a country in a very, very strong
position. We have made the structural reforms that Europe wishes it could make.
Our fiscal situation is sustainable for today and the long term unlike those
countries whose deficits are growing rapidly.
We have done what is required to ensure that Canada can lead the world in
meeting the challenges of the future. We have done so in our own way. And it has
defined who we are.
In the 21st Century, ideology has been redefined. The right wing
believes in tax reductions at any price. At the expense of public services and
public infrastructure. And while the right wing preaches fiscal responsibility,
it runs deficits. The left wing believes in spending regardless of the fiscal
situation. And like the right wing, deficits and their effect on future
generations just do not matter.
We, in Canada, have chosen a different approach. What I call the radical
centre. Where fiscal sustainability, living within our means, balancing our
budgets, is the only way to achieve our medium and long-term objectives.
It is fiscal sovereignty which enables us to share our prosperity. To empower
citizens, invest in kids and help foster creativity and innovation in the
knowledge economy. To strengthen our universal publicly funded health care
system. To be able to expand medicare to cover home care and catastrophic drug
costs on a national basis. And to invest in public infrastructure.
I have always made the argument that government is a force for good in
society. This has become particularly evident this summer.
Between SARS, mad-cow, and the electricity black-out, we have seen more than
ever the need for activist government. To deal with public health issues. To
deal with public infrastructure. None of which is cheap.
I received a letter two weeks ago from more than 200 business, union,
voluntary sector, education and local government leaders in Toronto. They called
for expansion of affordable housing stock, more investment in public transit and
community services infrastructure. They called for more investment in public
education, more support for early childhood development, and more support for
access to high quality post-secondary education. They called for action to
reinvigorate tourism, for government to invest more in research and development
and in the arts.
I congratulate them. While the letter I refer to speaks for Toronto, it sets
out an agenda for all of Canada. It is very much the agenda we have followed
since we balanced the budget. In fact, they are calling on governments to build
on all of our budgets since 1997. And, in particular, on our last budget, where
we made long-term investments in each of these areas.
It is an agenda I agree with. An agenda that will require government to be
focussed. Not to be all things to all people. It is an agenda of large public
investment. None of which will be cheap. But if these investments are not made,
Canada will not be competitive in the long run. I am glad that so many senior
business leaders, including all the bank presidents, recognize this fact and
call on the government to make these investments.
But they must also recognize the implications of this agenda. Because if we
are to maintain balanced budgets, which we must, these new public investments
inevitably mean that there cannot be any new large tax cuts in the near future.
The tax cuts of the last few years have made our tax system competitive. Our
budget deficits have been eliminated. Now the challenge for the future is to
eliminate social, environmental, and infrastructure deficits.
But government cannot focus only on domestic policy. Good global citizenship
is part of governing in the 21st Century. Canada must continue to
support multilateral approaches to global problems. The major challenges of our
time include poverty, environmental degradation, infectious disease, regional
conflicts, organized crime, and terrorism.
These cannot be addressed by nations acting alone, however powerful.
Harnessing globalization for the betterment of people through expanded trade and
smarter development also demand coordination through multilateral organizations.
The failure of the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, last week-end,
is very worrisome. I have said for a long time that agricultural subsidies of
developed countries must be radically reduced to give developing countries,
particularly in Africa, the chance to improve living standards of their
populations. The developed world has an obligation to act. And to act quickly.
On behalf of the people of Canada, I call on the European Union and the
United States, and all members of the WTO, to reflect again on what happened
last week-end. And to reconsider their positions. It is not too late.
I have always believed that good global citizenship is essential to serving
the interests of one’s own citizens. But it is also an expression of our
idealism and common concern for humanity.
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