Countries around the world are grappling with how best, in the 21^st century, to secure economic prosperity in an increasingly globalized society while at the same time ensuring that no member of their society is left behind. They are responding to the demands for changes in the traditional roles of government and the need to engage civil society in modern governance. They are seeking new ways to promote sustainable economic growth within an international community that works to ensure a coherent approach to trade, the environment, labour, culture, health, and education so that all can realize the human purposes and benefits of globalization.

The leaders of a number of countries who share a commitment to progressive government have launched an international dialogue to learn from each other about what has worked and what has not to work together to build progressive governance in the 21^st century. As part of this process,

The success we have achieved as a nation has come not only from strong growth but from an abiding commitment to strong values - caring and compassion, an insistence that there be an equitable sharing of the benefits of economic growth.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the Federal Republic of Germany has invited 16 heads of government to an informal meeting in Berlin on June 2–3, 2000, to discuss "Progressive Governance for the 21^st Century". At the same time, experts from participating countries will hold a conference on governance, civil society, and social and economic policies and will provide leaders with the results of their deliberations.

This paper is an opportunity, first, to articulate Canada’s strategy to achieve the highest quality of life for Canadians in the new global economy and to promote our values internationally; and, second, to raise questions about our shared challenges and our choices for the future.

The Canadian Way

We have established a distinct Canadian Way, a distinct Canadian model: Accommodation of cultures. Recognition of diversity. A partnership between citizens and state. A balance that promotes individual freedom and economic prosperity while at the same time sharing risks and benefits. An understanding that government can be an instrument of collective action — a means of serving the broader public interest. The success we have achieved as a nation has come not only from strong growth but from an abiding commitment to strong values — caring and compassion, an insistence that there be an equitable sharing of the benefits of economic growth.

These values are very much at the centre of more recent approaches to governance that some call the "Third Way". As described by world leaders such as Prime Minister Blair, President Clinton, and Chancellor

Canadians are, by virtue of history and necessity, open to the world.

 Schröder, the Third Way is an approach to governance that stresses technological innovation, a mixed economy, and education and learning as the keys to economic opportunity and security. It represents a rediscovery of the human purpose of the economy and a commitment to transform government to look outward, to focus on results, to be centred on citizens.

We use the term, the Canadian Way, because Canada’s approach to these issues can be traced to our origins and history. Canada’s founders made the deliberate choice not to try to forge a single nation with one language but instead created a framework of accommodation among French, English, and Aboriginal peoples, joined by immigrants from all parts of the world. Canada has become a post-national, multicultural society. It contains the globe within its borders, and Canadians have learned that their two international languages and their diversity are a comparative advantage and a source of continuing creativity and innovation. Canadians are, by virtue of history and necessity, open to the world.

Canada’s relatively small population dispersed across a vast and diverse

Canada’s legal framework and history — its mixed economy, strong communities, bilingualism and diversity, social safety net and system of medicare, and recognition of global interdependence — contain the seeds of what we and our friends are calling the Third Way.

geography has forced us to be more self-conscious about community and connections, from our early efforts to build a national transcontinental railway to more recent innovations in satellite and Internet communications. Canada’s frontier history, in which communities often faced challenging terrain and climate, has no doubt fuelled its commitment to the environment, individual initiative, social justice, and mutual responsibility. Canadians have always preferred principled pragmatism over ideology.

Sharing a border and friendship with the world’s leading economic power means that Canada has added incentive to strive to be at the leading edge of economic innovation and to be equally innovative in preserving its distinctly Canadian path, reflective of its values and diversity. This means the pursuit of excellence in commerce, science and technology but also in the arts and humanities.

Canada’s Constitution enshrines the values of "peace, order and good government", capturing the traditions of accommodation, peaceful resolution of conflict, the rule of law and democracy. Canada’s legal framework and history — its mixed economy, strong communities, bilingualism and diversity, social safety net and system of medicare, and recognition of global interdependence — contain the seeds of what we and our friends are calling the Third Way.

The Canadian Strategy

In the last decade of the 20^th Century, Canada faced challenges similar to many other countries. The government had to restore fiscal sovereignty in order to regain the capacity to make choices for the future; it had to revalidate government as a force for good while realigning government functions to match fiscal capacity and the new realities of globalization and social change; and it had to rebuild trust and confidence in government.

Increasingly, success in the global economy depends on human talent — our ability to learn, to act and adapt quickly to new opportunities, to develop new ideas, to make new discoveries. A comprehensive strategy seeks to ensure that all citizens are included. A comprehensive strategy requires a commitment to opportunity, diversity and inclusion; and equally to creativity, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit.

In 1994, the federal government announced its blueprint for change, "An Agenda for Growth and Jobs", to bring the Canadian Way into the 21^st Century. It was and is an ambitious agenda. It is based on a clear recognition of the challenges of globalization: polarization, marginalization and exclusion; social fragmentation; environmental degradation; cultural homogenization; and public disaffection with government. It is also based on a recognition of the opportunities for those countries ready to seize them: enhanced trade and investment, the potential of powerful new technologies, new partnerships, and the global flow of information and knowledge to help us realize what we most value.

The strategy reflects a clear vision of Canada, building on its strengths and embracing the future. A society of excellence with a commitment to success. Where prosperity is not limited to the few, but is shared by the many and where every child gets the right start in life. Where young people have a chance to grow and to be the best at whatever they choose to do. Where citizens have access to the skills and knowledge they need to excel. Where citizens, regardless of income, receive quality health services. Where families enjoy safe communities and a clean environment. Where Canadians work together and with other countries to promote peace, cultural diversity and the human purpose, and the benefits of the new global economy.

Four documents released by the government in 1994 — "Creating a Healthy Fiscal Climate", "Building a More Innovative Economy", "A New Framework for Economic Policy", and "Improving Social Security in Canada" — set out specific elements of the strategy to enable Canadians and their governments, working together, to begin to turn this vision into reality.

Over the past six years, the government has pursued this strategy, developing and testing new ways to create and share opportunity, promote mutual responsibility and modernize governance. Canada has taken major steps; much remains to be done. The strategy draws no artificial 

A society of excellence with a commitment to success. Where prosperity is not limited to the few, but is shared by the many and where every child gets the right start in life.

boundaries between social and economic policy or, for that matter, between domestic and foreign policy. Rather it is based on a commitment to realizing the human purpose of the economy, domestically and internationally.

To address the challenges and seize the opportunities, we believe that private economic growth has to be complemented by public investment. Governments have to go beyond traditional welfare supports and provide active assistance to help break the cycle of poverty and dependence. Governments have to recognize the inevitability of interdependence domestically and internationally and turn it to advantage. Governments have to find new ways to engage citizens. Governments need to form coalitions to expand international trade and investment in a coherent agenda that brings together financial, social, cultural, labour and environmental issues.

The remainder of this paper describes the key elements of this evolving strategy, what Canada is doing, and the challenges and choices for the future.

Shared Opportunity

Canada’s economic strategy is based on the premise that the purpose of economic growth is to enhance the well-being of all Canadians. Without growth we cannot realize this purpose. A strong economy is the indispensable foundation to achieve the Canadian vision. The blueprint recognizes that the sequencing of government action is crucial. The first priority had to be to achieve fiscal health and begin to create the climate for sustained growth. On this foundation, through continued fiscal responsibility and strategic investment in people and technology, the government can help accelerate transition to the knowledge economy and ensure that all Canadians have the opportunity to contribute to and benefit from economic growth.  By 1993, after decades of deficit budgets, service charges on Canada’s debt

It was clear to all Canadians that the first priority was to establish a healthy fiscal climate. This had become an imperative.

were strangling government while the deficit was continuing to grow. High interest and inflation rates had discouraged investment and had harmed the quality of life of Canadians. It was clear to all Canadians that the first priority was to establish a healthy fiscal climate. This had become an imperative.

By 1997, the federal deficit had been eliminated. Today, almost all provinces have eliminated their deficits as well. The economy is now growing strongly and Canada’s business environment is rated third in the world by the World Economic Forum. Unemployment is lower than it has been in more than two decades and the economy is creating jobs at an unprecedented rate. The net public debt has been reduced from a peak of 71.2 percent of gross domestic product in 1997 to about 61 percent in 1999. It is projected at 50 percent by 2004 and will continue to drop. Most important, on a national accounts basis, which is the measure used for international fiscal comparisons by the OECD and the International Monetary Fund, Canada’s debt is now below 50 percent of GDP and is continuing to drop. Canadians are more optimistic about the economy and their own individual prospects today than they have been for a long time.

Canada’s success in eliminating its deficit can be attributed to three major factors:

• Canadians wanted their governments to take action, urgently,   to  restore fiscal health and they were willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve this;

• The Minister of Finance publicly set out two-year targets for deficit reduction, which were exceeded in every case; and
  
• The government chose to achieve these targets, not through  across-the-board cuts, but through a review of all of its programs to align  its activities with the priorities of Canadians and to change how it conducts its business.

The result has been a massive transformation of the federal government. Canada calls it "Getting Government Right"; others call it "Reinventing Government". New partnerships are being established, recognizing that no government can meet the challenges of the future alone. Programs have been eliminated or devolved and new, separate service agencies are being established so that the government can focus on setting a new course. The government transferred its delivery of transportation services to the private sector so that the government could focus on its regulatory and policy role. It transferred labour market programs to the provinces so that they could be more easily adapted to local conditions. An extensive regulatory reform is reducing red tape and costs to business and to citizens; regulations are being cut, self-regulatory models are being applied and, where feasible and where accelerated services are required by business, costs are being borne directly by the users rather than burdening all citizens.

Sound Public Finances

Sound public finances are necessary if we are to realize our values. But the Canadian Way requires that sound fiscal management also be achieved in a manner that respects those values. In this context, Canada’s governments made a clear commitment to preserve their public system of earnings-related pensions, the Canada Pension Plan, and make it sustainable for future generations without reducing benefits for current recipients. The financial foundation is being solidified by shifting from pay-as-you-go to partial funding. Contribution rates are rising more rapidly over six years than previously scheduled to prevent them from having to rise even further in the long term.

A comprehensive strategy seeks not only to create opportunity but to ensure that it is widely shared.

The larger Canada Pension Plan surplus fund that will result is being prudently invested in a diversified portfolio of securities in the best interest of plan members by an independent investment board at arm’s length from governments. In addition, a number of changes have been made to the way benefits are administered and calculated to moderate escalating costs.

Budgetary surpluses also create difficult choices, in particular, choices about the right balance among debt reduction, tax reduction and social and economic investment. Such choices are now faced by many countries. The choices made necessarily reflect the values of a government and a country. The Government of Canada has chosen a balanced approach, committing half of its fiscal dividend to debt and tax relief and half to economic and social investment for the future. A comprehensive, balanced strategy requires investment, both public and private, in people, in knowledge and in technology. A comprehensive strategy seeks not only to create opportunity but to ensure that it is widely shared.

Tax Reductions

Lower taxes are an essential part of an economic strategy to provide jobs, growth, rising incomes and a higher quality of life. In its tax reduction measures, the government affirmed its commitment to a progressive income tax system and chose to focus first on low- and middle-income Canadians. During the years of deficit reduction, the government reduced Employment Insurance premiums for employers and working Canadians and introduced targeted tax reductions to increase real incomes for low-income Canadians and take large numbers of these Canadians off the tax rolls. With the deficit eliminated, and debt coming down, the government

These and future tax measures will empower Canadians to invest in their future and Canadian businesses will be better able to compete in the global knowledge-based economy. But tax reduction is only one part of the equation.

 this year introduced a five-year, broad-based tax reduction plan. By the end of the fifth year of the plan, personal income taxes will have been reduced by 22 percent and up to 30 percent for families with children. Canadians will enjoy the full benefit of these reductions because  of the reintroduction of full indexation for inflation.

The tax plan also introduced measures to provide incentives for investment, entrepreneurship and innovation and to help attract and retain the talent Canada needs: reducing the corporate income tax rate for the highest taxed sectors, reducing the tax rate on capital gains, allowing a tax-free rollover for capital gains on small-business investments, and allowing the deferral of the taxation of benefits from employee stock options.

These and future tax measures will empower Canadians to invest in their future and Canadian businesses will be better able to compete in the global knowledge-based economy. But tax reduction is only one part of the equation.

In a global knowledge-based economy, market forces create both opportunities and new disparities. Canada’s commitment to an inclusive society requires that all citizens be able to participate, that none be excluded from opportunity. The Canadian Way has four key elements: "Connecting Canadians" to the information highway; investing in access to education and promoting excellence in post-secondary education; investing in children and their families; and developing active measures to help Canadians find and keep work.

Investments in the Information Highway

Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian, coined the phrase "global village" before he could have possibly imagined how the Internet would indeed make the world, a "wired village". The digital revolution will profoundly affect business, government, society and citizen participation. It will revolutionize the marketplace and society in ways that we can only dimly perceive.

Canada has been investing in the information highway since 1994 and is putting in place the legislative framework to protect intellectual property rights and enable secure commerce. The goal of the Connecting Canadians initiative is to make the information highway available to all Canadians — for learning, for commerce, for creative expression and for communication.

As a key part of this initiative, the government is building a modern communications infrastructure for schools. SchoolNet brings the Internet to students and into the classroom as a vital learning tool. Computers for Schools, a key to this strategy, is a partnership through which governments and businesses make computers available to schools at no cost. Canada is the first country to have connected each one of its schools and libraries. Our next objective is to ensure that each classroom is connected.In addition to connecting schools and libraries, the government is helping the voluntary sector extend its reach through new technology. Through its Smart Community project, the government is testing how access to the information highway can enrich community life. The Community Access Program is bringing rural Canada on-line by establishing Internet access sites in Canada’s rural 

Getting Canadians connected — to each other, to schools and libraries, to their diverse stories and voices, to government, to the marketplace and to the world — is one of the keys to establishing Canada as a world-leading economy, a country of opportunity and excitement.

and remote communities. Canada has set as its goal an inclusive approach to the information highway so that all Canadians have access. Canada has also set as a goal that Canadian businesses will have five percent of the world’s e-commerce by 2003. The information highway holds real promise too for improving government services to Canadians and for engaging Canadians in government. The federal government has therefore committed to have all government services on-line by 2004.

Canada has made significant progress towards its goal of being the most connected country in the world.

Improving Education and Learning

The standard of living and quality of life of Canadians will depend directly on our success in fostering knowledge creation and innovation and in maximizing educational opportunity. This requires a commitment to inclusive access to learning and to excellence in knowledge, research, and institutions of higher education. How a government proceeds on this agenda will reflect its values and will, to a large extent, shape the future of the country. Canada has made considerable progress and much remains to be done.

The Canadian Way is to make education and learning a top priority, recognizing their importance for opportunity and for citizenship. For its part, the federal government is implementing measures to make it easier for families to save from birth for their children’s post-secondary education. It has introduced a sheltered education savings plan and is now providing grants to families who invest in the plan. The government has also increased its support for students in need to ensure that neither income nor family circumstance is a barrier to access. It increased its education loans and grants for students in need and those with young children. It is working with the provinces to harmonize student aid programs and to ensure that aid is fully portable. And it is implementing measures to help graduates manage the debt they may have accumulated as students.

Recently the Government of Canada launched the Millennium Scholarship Fund, establishing and endowing an agency which will, beginning this year, provide 100,000 scholarships per year to recognize and reward excellence and encourage the brightest and the best to fulfil their potential. While a good start has been made, student debt continues to be a problem and more must be done to ensure fair and equitable access for all.

The government is also implementing a range of measures to encourage lifelong learning for all Canadians, helping Canadians upgrade their skills throughout their working lives by allowing tax-free withdrawals from tax-sheltered retirement savings plans for lifelong learning and extending tax assistance for education to part-time students.

Canada has the largest proportion of people with post-secondary education in the world, but the demands of the knowledge economy are placing an increasing premium on quality, not just the number of degrees but the quality of those degrees. The future will demand access to education of the highest quality, access to excellence. And just as Canadian industries are in competition with the world, so too are our researchers, universities, and colleges.  The government is therefore taking steps to promote excellence in education and research. It has been implementing a plan to build a modern infrastructure

The future will demand access to education of the highest quality, access to excellence.

of universities and laboratories, to increase the amount and quality of research, and to attract and retain the brightest and best scholars and researchers. To these ends, it established and continues to build the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which levers significant additional resources from the private sector to build a modern research infrastructure in colleges, universities and teaching hospitals.

The government is encouraging research in the sciences and humanities through large increases to the Granting Councils, which provide the major support for research in Canada’s post-secondary institutions. It has created the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and doubled its funding for health research to help Canada to become a world leader in this area. It has increased investment in biotechnology and related scientific research. It has created and extended networks of Centres of Excellence to ensure that knowledge and skills are shared.

And, the government is now establishing 2000 Canada Research Chairs over the next five years at degree-granting institutions across Canada to help them compete for the brightest and best in an increasingly global market.

Investing in Children and Families

Inclusiveness does not begin at the post-secondary school level. One of the challenges all countries must grapple with is ensuring that all children get a good start in life and that families are given the support they need for the healthy development of their children, so that they are ready to learn and to seize opportunity later in life.  Some argue that large, 

While parents and families have the primary role in raising children, governments have a responsibility to ensure that the necessary supports are also in place.

across-the-board tax cuts are sufficient. The Government of Canada has chosen a different path. While parents and families have the primary role in raising children, governments have a responsibility to ensure that the necessary supports are also in place.

The federal and provincial governments, therefore, established and continue to strengthen the National Child Benefit, designed to combat child poverty by helping to protect benefits for low-income parents who enter and stay in the workforce. Under the previous set of uncoordinated welfare and federal child benefits, parents could face a significant drop in benefits when deciding to accept a job and leave welfare. The benefit strengthens and equalizes income support to low-income families with children, while at the same time extending improvements to the majority of families.

This important reform is allowing provinces to redirect welfare spending for children to invest in more effective and active programs to help low-income families break the welfare trap; for example, child care, supplementary health benefits, early childhood services, and enhanced income support. The National Child Benefit embodies several key characteristics of the Canadian Way: active instead of passive income support; broad based, inclusive social programs that serve low-income and non-poor Canadians together, rather than marginalizing the most vulnerable; integration of income programs and a range of supporting services; and reforms planned and implemented through federal-provincial joint action.

Canada’s governments have agreed to build on this ground-breaking initiative. In 1999, they released a framework to guide the efforts of all sectors of Canadian society — Canadians, communities, employers and governments — to better meet the needs of children. The framework focuses on six priority areas: strengthening the family, early childhood development, economic security, readiness to learn, adolescent development and supportive communities.

For its part, the federal government launched a major new initiative to double parental leave from its current 26 weeks to a full year to enable working parents to choose to be with their young children. This will come into effect in 2001 and will have major and enduring benefits for children and their families.

Investment in Active Measures

A particular challenge for all countries is to find new and better ways to bring the poor and marginalized into the mainstream.  An inclusive approach requires that all individuals and all regions have the opportunity to participate, to share opportunity. Governments have an important role but they must go beyond the traditional "welfare" approaches;

A particular challenge for all countries is to find new and better ways to bring the poor and marginalized into the mainstream.

 they must find new and better ways, new approaches that put greater emphasis on creating opportunity, promoting responsibility and avoiding dependency.

The Government of Canada has reformed and continues to adapt the Employment Insurance system, shifting emphasis to active measures to help the unemployed acquire the skills and tools they need; and it is testing similar programs for people with disabilities, youth at risk and Aboriginal people.

At the same time, Canada’s governments continue to provide support, through welfare, employment insurance and other programs, to ensure that basic needs are met. Through its progressive tax system, active measures and social safety net, Canada has curtailed income polarization and marginalization and has therefore avoided the worst social and economic costs of social exclusion. More must and can be done, particularly with respect to Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, who do not participate equally in Canada’s social and economic development. New and better ways must be found both to promote opportunity and to ensure that the basic needs of all are met.

Canada is therefore modifying its approach to regional development, focusing on innovation, on excellence, on private-public partnership, on infrastructure, and on youth. In the knowledge-based economy, geography need not be a barrier to opportunity.

In Canada, as in many other countries, disparities exist not only among individuals but also among regions. There have been many different approaches to regional development. None have been fully successful. Some approaches may actually deepen dependency and inhibit structural reform. Canada is therefore modifying its approach to regional development, focusing on innovation, on excellence, on private-public partnership, on infrastructure, and on youth. In the knowledge-based economy, geography need not be a barrier to opportunity.

Quality of life

The purpose of Canada’s economic strategy is to provide Canadians with a high quality of life. But quality of life is not simply defined by opportunities in the market. It also requires safe communities where people wish to live and raise their families, where they can receive the health care they need, where they can live without fear of crime or violence, where they can enjoy the benefits of clean air and water and green spaces, where they can participate in amateur sport, cultural activities and the arts, and where people of diverse backgrounds and cultures participate and contribute together.

Investments in Health

Whatever their system of health, countries throughout the world are having to deal with the rising costs of health care in the face of demographic change, new technologies, advances in medical science and changing expectations.

Canadians attach great value to and take great pride in their public health care system. Canada’s system of medicare guarantees access to essential health services regardless of income or place of residence. It is part of Canada’s competitive advantage and essential to quality of life. Canada’s governments are therefore increasing their investment in core health services. They are also taking steps to modernize the system and make it sustainable by investing in health information systems, research and innovation, and particularly preventive approaches. Preventive initiatives are building on efforts to improve prenatal nutrition, food safety and the control of toxic substances. Steps are being taken to foster innovation in rural and community health; to improve Aboriginal health services; and to combat diabetes, the incidence of which is particularly high in Aboriginal communities.

Canadians want assurances that their health care system will be there for them and for their children. Canada’s governments have no greater obligation than to work together with an uncompromising commitment to universal access to essential medical services of high quality; to develop common goals and objectives to bring medicare into the 21st century; and to measure results, report to Canadians on progress, learn from one another what works best and invest for the future.

Canadians want assurances that their health care system will be there for them and for their children. Canada’s governments have no greater obligation than to work together with an uncompromising commitment to universal access to essential medical services of high quality; to develop common goals and objectives to bring medicare into the 21^st century; and to measure results, report to Canadians on progress, learn from one another what works best and invest for the future. Increasing global mobility, the spread of disease and the emergence of new viruses will require international solutions as well.

A Healthy Environment

A healthy environment and a high quality of life go hand in hand. The environment is of importance to all Canadians, but particularly to young Canadians. Our generation will be judged on the environmental legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren. This is a matter of very high priority for Canada’s governments.

Legislation has been introduced to protect species at risk and their critical habitat. The Government of Canada is extending Canada’s national parks system and taking steps to ensure the ecological integrity of its parks and the protection of its wilderness areas. And it is cleaning up contaminated sites to protect the health of Canadians.

Our generation will be judged on the environmental legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren. This is a matter of very high priority for Canada’s governments.

Canada is adapting existing technologies aggressively, developing new technologies strategically and exporting its technical products to contribute to the health of the global environment and to contribute to economic growth in Canada. Canada has set itself the goal of being a world leader in environmental technology and science.

In collaboration with the provinces and municipalities, the government is investing in green infrastructure to improve water and air quality. Canada is adopting sustainable practices and encouraging our trading partners to do the same. And the Government of Canada is leading a national effort — public, private, federal and provincial — to meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it will work to achieve concerted international action on climate change.

In the new global economy, not only are people connected more than ever before, not only do businesses compete around the world as never before, but the quality of our environment — the air we breathe, the water we drink — depends not only on what we do in this country but also on factors beyond our borders. Environmental quality is both a local and a global challenge; it requires both national action and international partnerships.

Strong communities and good government require engaged citizens, citizens who take responsibility not only for themselves but for one another. Canada has always benefited from a high level of community action, and Canadians take great pride in their reputation for mutual tolerance, mutual respect, and mutual responsibility. Indeed, Canada has been called a "public enterprise" society because of its traditions of social responsibility. Its strong civic base is reflected in relatively low and decreasing rates of crime and violence, high rates of voluntarism and charitable giving, and a strong and active voluntary sector. In times of rapid and persistent change, however, these bonds among citizens and between them and their governments may become strained or weakened at precisely the time that public enterprise must be resilient and inventive.

Canada’s governments are working together to ensure that their communities continue to be safe and that Canadians do not live in fear of crime. The Canadian Way is a balanced approach in which offenders are held accountable for their crimes; serious offenders receive  serious sentences; less serious offenders, particularly young offenders, are helped to reintegrate into their communities; and prisons are a punishment of last resort.

Strong communities and good government require engaged citizens, citizens who take responsibility not only for themselves but for one another.

Canada’s governments have intensified their efforts at prevention and diversion to reduce the social and economic costs of crime. Canada’s firearms controls are among the most stringent in the world and new measures are being implemented to control firearms, to ensure their safe handling and to prohibit those most dangerous. Canada is also intensifying its community-based crime prevention, tailoring programs to the specific needs of urban and rural communities and engaging youth to help other young people at risk.

Globalization, however, has meant new threats to security — such as computer crime; smuggling of people, arms and drugs; and exploitation of immigrants and refugees. Recent events have shown the global consequences that can arise from local mischief on the Internet. These issues will require international solutions.

The most effective domestic approaches to crime prevention and strengthening the quality of life in communities are those that focus on social development and inclusion, engaging those at risk or on the margins of community life, providing them with social and market skills and opportunities to contribute. Canada’s voluntary sector plays a crucial role in reaching out to those that government programs may too often miss.

Through a series of joint roundtables, the government and the voluntary sector have set out a shared vision of how this partnership can most effectively contribute to serve Canadians, encourage charitable giving and promote volunteerism and citizen engagement in public enterprise.

The Government of Canada is therefore strengthening its partnership with the voluntary sector. Through a series of joint roundtables, the government and the voluntary sector have set out a shared vision of how this partnership can most effectively contribute to serve Canadians, encourage charitable giving and promote volunteerism and citizen engagement in public enterprise. The federal government and the voluntary sector are developing an accord which will bring this relationship into the 21^st century.

Canada is also increasing support for participation in amateur sport, cultural activities and the arts, and the preservation for future generations of its rich cultural heritage. Sport, artistic and cultural activities are important for connecting Canadians to their society and to one another. These activities inspire creativity and a sense of humanity and citizenship and provide some bearings in these global and changing times. The government is introducing measures to promote creative expression across all media and to bring historical and cultural content on-line.

In particular, it is taking steps to encourage youth to express themselves, develop their creativity, participate in domestic and international exchanges, and be exposed to excellence in the arts, humanities and sport. Young people are typically at ease in the global, wired world, and can play a major role in driving innovation. Canada is increasingly turning to young people to help citizens and businesses learn how to access and effectively use new technologies and the Internet. Governments will have to find new ways to engage young people and place them at the centre of the action.

In a world where human development, quality of life and economic prosperity are increasingly driven by knowledge and creativity, who better to lead the way than our artists, writers, and performers. And who better to lead the way than our youth, many of whom are already more at ease than their elders with the rapidly self-transforming world in which we all live.

The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that Canadians have Canadian choices. To help connect our people to the diverse Canadian experience and to support and promote our rich talent. Canada has an unprecedented opportunity to ensure that its creative artists have new avenues for expression. That all Canadians have access to diverse Canadian stories, voices and images.

In a world where human development, quality of life and economic prosperity are increasingly driven by knowledge and creativity, who better to lead the way than our artists, writers, and performers. And who better to lead the way than our youth, many of whom are already more at ease than their elders with the rapidly self-transforming world in which we all live.

Modern Government

The Canadian Way of governing requires that all citizens have the opportunity to help shape government priorities and directions. The Government of Canada has recognized that the legitimacy of public institutions, the quality of public policy, and the responsiveness of public services will require new and better mechanisms for engaging citizens and civil society in governance. For example, the government has used citizen juries to achieve a consensus declaration on climate change. It has used study circles to bring citizens and decision-makers together to recommend action in immigration and health policy. The government also recognizes the need to engage citizens in distant communities and, in 1998, launched the Canadian Rural Dialogue, which resulted in a long-term action plan which will address the special needs of

A challenge for all governments is to find innovative ways to put citizens at the centre of the governing process, to engage youth in public enterprise, and to give voice to those who find themselves on the margins.

citizens living in rural and remote communities. A challenge for all governments is to find innovative ways to put citizens at the centre of the governing process, to engage youth in public enterprise, and to give voice to those who find themselves on the margins.

Key to reconnecting governments to their citizens is greater transparency and accountability in how government operates. All of Canada’s governments are developing new ways to measure and report on performance and results. The Government of Canada is introducing new approaches to performance measurement and results reporting across all departments and agencies. Performance reports are provided to Parliament and made public to ensure that citizens can make informed judgments about the performance of their government. Performance information is also crucial to help governments to learn and to adapt and modify their policies in the light of the evidence on what works and what does not.

The federal and provincial governments are also adopting new citizen-centred approaches to service, publicly setting out service standards, providing mechanisms for complaint and redress, and using new technologies to make services available in a way that is relevant to citizens. The Government of Canada made its commitment to have its services on-line by 2004 so that citizens will be able to access its services at a time and place of their choosing.

Canada’s governments are working together to strengthen their federal system, to find effective ways to manage interdependence in the interest of citizens, to work together whenever this makes sense and to identify new ways to be more transparent and accountable. Initiatives such as the National Child Benefit demonstrate the strength of the federal system, which allows governments to bring their different strengths together in common purpose while also affording the flexibility to tailor programs and services to meet provincial or local needs.

Canada’s system of federalism provides an increasing advantage in the global economy, allowing the interaction of global and local issues, accommodating diversity and providing a natural laboratory for testing new ideas and bringing those that work best to all Canadians. In 1999, Canada’s governments agreed to adopt a more collaborative approach to federalism, making the commitment that, in areas of shared responsibility or interest, they would jointly develop objectives and indicators to measure and publicly report on progress, exchange best practices and learn from one another. The key to this new agreement is the commitment of all governments to report to Canadians on their 

Initiatives such as the National Child Benefit demonstrate the strength of the federal system, which allows governments to bring their different strengths together in common purpose while also affording the flexibility to tailor programs and services to meet provincial or local needs.

performance, to allow Canadians to make informed judgments and to participate more fully in the federal-provincial dialogue.

The future will increasingly demand excellence in government policy, administration and services. Governments too will have to attract and retain the brightest and best in an increasingly competitive market, and they will have to be representative of the increasingly diverse population they serve. Attracting and retaining the talent they need will be a significant challenge for all governments.

The government is taking concrete steps to build its policy capacity, to strengthen its ability to discern broad trends, to develop long term scenarios and options, and to identify innovative approaches and solutions. The government's Policy Research Initiative devotes resources to long term policy, to help build policy capacity in government departments and to encourage academics and think tanks to help government define its challenges and choices for the future. The Government of Canada has also put added emphasis on restoring pride in public service and on recruitment, retention and learning to ensure that the public service continues to attract, keep, and develop people who can provide excellence in government.

Governments will also have to find new approaches to strengthen private-public partnerships and to promote corporate responsibility domestically and internationally. Mutual responsibility requires that all sectors of society contribute to the betterment of quality of life.

Global Opportunity

Canada’s international voice draws on its distinct advantage as a multi-cultural society where people have roots in virtually every country in the world. Canada is surrounded by three oceans and is therefore an Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic country. Canada belongs both to the Commonwealth and La Francophonie and Canada speaks in two international languages. Canada is a trading nation, a vigorous promoter of investment. And Canada speaks to the world through the values that can be traced to our origins of "peace, order and good government". Canada’s foreign policy is the mirror image of its domestic policy. In the post Cold War world, foreign policy can more easily look beyond relations

Canada’s international voice draws on its distinct advantage as a multi-cultural society where people have roots in virtually every country in the world.

 between states to the needs of people, needs that transcend borders — addressing the human side of globalization, human security, cultural diversity and human rights.

Canada continues to play a disproportionate role in conflict avoidance, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, largely because Canadians understand readily that the more people are safe and secure in their countries, the more Canadians too are safe and secure. Canada continues to work with international non-governmental organizations to promote human security, human rights and peace, building on the landmark convention banning anti-personnel mines. Similar approaches will be necessary to control the spread of small arms and migrant smuggling. Canada and its partners in the United Nations recently achieved new rules preventing the recruitment of child soldiers, and Canada continues to advocate the International Criminal Court so that perpetrators of atrocities are held to account.

Canada is also promoting a more inclusive and coherent rules-based approach to free trade, anchored in the WTO, as perhaps the major vehicle to achieve shared opportunity globally. Trade and investment are essential for a strong Canadian economy.

The trading relationship with the United States is the most important element of Canada’s international economic relations. NAFTA has extended this relationship to Mexico.

Through its membership in APEC and its leadership role in the Summit of the Americas, Canada is committed to expanding free trade as an essential means of building greater prosperity in a global economy.

Globalization means increased wealth, expanded opportunity and improved well-being for Canadians and the citizens of other developed countries. Some are not so fortunate — indeed, there has been little improvement in the absolute number of world citizens living in dire poverty. If developed countries want to continue to secure the advantages of globalization for themselves, they must help those that are excluded to benefit as well. That is the challenge for all of those who believe in progressive governance.

If developed countries want to continue to secure the advantages of globalization for themselves, they must help those that are excluded to benefit as well. That is the challenge for all of those who believe in progressive governance.

For its part, Canada is committed to promoting sustainable growth for all nations through enhanced trade. This requires reducing debt and freeing up funding for productive expenditures, ensuring appropriate regulatory structures, and developing the capacity to benefit fully from the trading system. Canada is a driving force to reduce the oppressive debt burdens of the poorest nations, in concert with the international financial institutions, and is a prime mover in the work of the G20 to promote international financial stability and greater transparency.

But financial order is insufficient to allow developing nations to benefit from globalization. Canada is, particularly through the G8, encouraging the development of social policies to protect the vulnerable in economic hard times. To this end, it is promoting greater coordination, among the WTO, international financial institutions and UN agencies, to provide debt relief to allow countries to concentrate on productive expenditures, develop social safety nets and better integrate trade into development. It is also tailoring development assistance programs to help build developing-country capacity for economic and social development, as well as to respond to urgent humanitarian needs.

Taking the Canadian Way into the 21^st Century will require innovation and excellence in government, partnerships of common purpose and a focus on citizens at home and throughout the world. The federal government is proposing for Canada and Canadians clear goals and a vision of a modern Canada in which:

• Canada is the most inclusive country in the world, where opportunity is shared among all Canadians and all regions;
  
• All children get a good start in life so that they will be ready to learn and seize opportunity later in life;
  
• Canada’s economy is growing strongly and all sectors of the economy are harnessing the power of new technologies and global trade and investment;
  
• Canada is the most connected country in the world, a leader in the knowledge economy, and has five percent of the world’s e-commerce by 2003;
  
• All Canadian classrooms are connected to the Internet;
  
• All Canadians have equitable and affordable access to an education of the highest standards of excellence;
  
• Canada is the world leader in research and science in key strategic areas;
  
• Canada’s poor have the tools they need to enter the mainstream and the basic needs of all Canadians are met;
  
• Canada’s Aboriginal peoples have the tools to participate in Canada’s economic growth;
  
• All Canadians have access to essential medical services of high quality, and Canada is a world leader in health research and information;
  
• Canadian citizens continue to enjoy clean air and water and green spaces, and Canada’s rich wilderness and habitats are preserved;
  
• Canada is a world leader in environmental technology and science;
  
• All Canadians can participate fully in Canada’s economy and in its diverse and culturally rich communities without fear of crime or violence, prejudice or hate;
  
• Young Canadians have the tools and can seize the opportunity to drive innovation and growth;
  
• Canada’s artists and creators have the opportunity to express themselves, and Canadians have access to Canadian choices;
  
• Government services are available to Canadians on-line, Canada’s governments are collaborating in the interests of all Canadians openly and transparently, and citizens are at the centre of governance; and
  
• Canada and other liked-minded countries build a coherent international agenda of shared opportunity and inclusion.

Sharing Opportunity

This is a modern project for a modern society, the project of a forward-looking country. Not old solutions to the problems of today, but new plans to meet new opportunities; to ensure that the opportunities of all of Canada are available to all Canadians; to ensure that Canadians shape their future in the Canadian Way. It is a plan for people, for opportunity, for excellence, for success, for a high quality of life, for mutual responsibility and mutual respect, for creativity and innovation — an ambitious vision for an ambitious country.

Canadians’ way of living together, their way of working out problems, of respecting and taking responsibility for each other — this Canadian Way — is the way ahead for this even smaller globe in the century ahead.