Speech from the Throne
February 27, 1996
Ladies and Gentlemen, Honourable Members of the Senate;
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the House of Commons:
A year ago when I became Governor General, I spoke about the
generosity and the compassion of Canadians. I spoke especially
of the unsung heroes, the volunteers and helpers who encourage
and care for their communities.
Since then, travelling to almost every province, I have seen
how much Canadians love their country and how generous and open
they can be to those in need. I have discovered the great
strength of those currents of generosity and compassion.
In the schools and the Scout troops and in every part of
life, from the nurseries of the newborn to palliative care for
the dying, Canadians give endless help to one another. Surely
this must be the most giving of countries.
We are developing a new award to recognize the unsung heroes
of Canada; and hundreds of Canadians have already put forward
the names of their fellow citizens, to honour their constant
help and their open hearts.
On the opening of the second session of this Parliament, and
on behalf of the Government of Canada, I make the following
brief statements of government policy. The Prime Minister and
Ministers will expand on this in coming days. Legislation and
other administrative measures will follow.
Twenty-eight months ago, Canadians elected a new Parliament
and chose a new government. Since then, the Government has acted
to meet its commitments to the Canadian people. Ministers have
insisted upon the highest standards of integrity and honesty in
fulfilling their mandate.
The Government approaches the second half of its mandate
confident that what unites us as Canadians is far greater than
what divides us; certain that the values we share as Canadians
are as relevant today as they have been at any time during our
history; and determined to apply basic Canadian values and
principles to the new policies and fresh approaches that are
required to prepare ourselves and our national institutions to
deal with the challenges of the 21st century.
Canadians are concerned about economic uncertainty, the
sustainability of social programs and the unity of the country.
The scope and enormity of the challenges are such that no
individual, municipality, province or region acting in isolation
can expect or hope to address them successfully. It will take
the will to reason together and to pull together. Each of us
must join with those with whom we have the most in common, with
whom we share the most at the most basic level -- at the level
of values. And when we reflect on it, we realize it is with
other Canadians that we have the most in common. And when we
look at our history, and at our place in the world, we know we
can solve our problems.
Ensuring Opportunity: A Strong Economy
A strong economy is the essence of a strong society. A strong
economy creates the ability to translate into reality the values
of equality of opportunity, compassion for the underprivileged
and protection of the vulnerable.
Government has a necessary and essential role in facilitating
change in society. Many Canadians are concerned about their
security, and particularly their security of employment. The
Government will work with the private sector and the provinces
to make the collective investments required to produce hope,
growth and jobs. Because government does not have the resources
to do everything, it must be strategic in its approach. It must
invest in people. The Government will focus its new initiatives
on youth, science and technology, and trade.
Youth
Young Canadians want the opportunity to put their energies
and talents to use. Young Canadians deserve a climate of
opportunity. This must be a national objective.
It is time to harness the energy of the Team Canada
partnership abroad between the federal and the provincial
governments and the private sector to create hope, opportunity
and jobs for young people at home. The Government will challenge
the provincial governments and the private sector to enter into
a domestic Team Canada partnership to create such opportunity
for young people.
In particular:
- The Government will announce measures to double the
number of federal summer student jobs this summer. The
Government challenges the business community and provincial
and municipal governments to do likewise.
- The Government will work in active partnership with the
provinces, the private sector and young people themselves to
prepare initiatives to enhance youth job opportunities so
that young Canadians can get work experience.
- The Government will challenge business and labour and
all levels of government to work together to create new
approaches to assist young people in finding their first
job.
Science and Technology
To create enduring jobs for Canadians in the economy of the
21st century, investment in knowledge and technology is
essential. The Government will establish guiding principles to
improve the effectiveness and focus of the federal science and
technology effort. In particular:
- The Government will make specific proposals to support
technology development in the aerospace industry, in
environmental technologies, and in critical enabling
technologies such as biotechnology. Further measures will be
taken to promote technology diffusion, including the launch
of a Canadian technology network.
- The Government will support technological innovation by
providing a predictable policy and regulatory framework for
the information highway.
- The Government will continue to expand the access to the
School Net and Community Access programs so that Canadians,
particularly those in rural communities, will be able to use
technology to increase their knowledge and access to each
other and to the rest of the world.
Trade
Canadian jobs and growth depend heavily on our exports. Every
one billion dollars of exports means 11,000 Canadian jobs. The
success of "Trade Team Canada" demonstrates the value of working
together to succeed in world markets and therefore create job
prospects at home.
Further "Trade Team Canada" missions will be undertaken under
the leadership of the Prime Minister.
To create jobs at home, the Government will announce new
measures to enhance export development and financing, with
emphasis on developing new products and new exporters and
attracting new foreign investment.
The Government will continue efforts to expand NAFTA and will
work towards more world trade liberalization.
Where there are trade disputes, the Government will spare no
effort to promote and defend legitimate Canadian trade rights
and interests.
A Climate for Economic Growth and Job Creation
In the first half of its mandate, the Government has taken
steps to ensure that the economic and fiscal conditions are in
place for sustained growth and job creation. The Government has
made major structural reforms. The deficit has been cut.
International trade and investment initiatives have been
undertaken. Much has been accomplished. Canadians are beginning
to see dividends, particularly with lower interest rates.
But the job is not yet completed. The Government will
continue to take appropriate action to promote a proper climate
for economic growth and jobs. In particular:
- The 1996 Budget will set out how the Government will
attain its deficit-reduction targets, bringing the deficit
down to two percent of gross domestic product in 1997-98 and
ensuring that further progress will be realized in 1998-99
and beyond.
- The Government will work with the provinces to conclude
discussions on sales tax harmonization and establish a
process to replace the GST and provincial sales taxes with a
national sales tax.
- The Government will introduce proposals to strengthen
the economic framework with legislative improvements in the
areas of competition, bankruptcy and copyright.
- The Government will introduce proposals to update
legislation governing financial institutions to ensure that
it continues to be relevant to the emerging needs of
businesses and consumers.
- The Government will propose a modernization of the rules
governing labour relations under federal jurisdiction
through changes in Part I of the Canada Labour Code.
- The Government will ensure through regulatory reform
that requirements are strong and clear, delays are minimized
and activities co-ordinated between departments and between
levels of government.
- The Government is committed to the economic renewal of
rural Canada. The Government will address the problems
facing rural Canadians in a way that is tailored to their
needs. Rural Canada is rich in natural and human resources
and faces different challenges than urban areas. The
Government will move forward in the coming session to make
sure that all Canadians benefit from economic prosperity.
Ensuring Opportunity: Security for Canadians
Economic growth is not an end in itself. Government has the
obligation, in accordance with basic Canadian values, to ensure
security for Canadians in a rapidly changing world. Our legacy
to future generations must include the assurance for all
Canadians, wherever they live, that there will be a modern and
accessible health care system; that a helping hand will be
available when a helping hand is needed; that a public pension
system will be there to support people in their old age; that
our environment is protected; and that Canadians will be safe in
their homes and communities.
A Secure Social Safety Net
The Government is committed to ensuring opportunity through a
sustainable social safety net for the future. The Government
will secure Canada's social union for the future and will adapt
our federal arrangements as necessary to meet current challenges
and to prepare for the next century. The Government is open to
new ways and new directions to pursue our values. In particular:
- The Government will work with the provinces and
Canadians to develop by mutual consent the values,
principles and objectives that should underlie, first, the
Canada Health and Social Transfer and, building on this, the
social union more generally.
- The CHST consists of tax points and cash. The Government
will announce plans to put a floor under the cash transfer
component to provide a guarantee of continuing federal cash
to the provinces. This will serve to secure Canada's safety
net, particularly medicare.
Canadians attach high priority to our health care system and
to the principles of medicare. The Government reaffirms its
unwavering commitment to the five principles of the Canada
Health Act. The Government will continue to work with the
provinces to ensure the future of our publicly financed health
care system.
Canadians expect to have secure elderly benefits and pensions
available to them when they retire.
- The Government will propose to Parliament measures to
sustain Canada's elderly benefits system for the future.
- The Canada Pension Plan will be made sustainable for
future generations. Discussions are already under way with
the provinces on possible changes. A joint
federal-provincial paper setting out the problems and
challenges facing the Plan has already been released for
public consultation. And reforms will be legislated once the
required provincial consent has been obtained.
Equality of opportunity is a basic Canadian value. It begins
with children. The Government will announce measures to improve
Canada's child support system, with the particular objective of
helping single parents and low-income working families.
Security for Canadians means ensuring that people who are
outof work can get help while they are unemployed and can get
help to go back to work.
- The Government will implement a new Employment Insurance
System beginning July 1, 1996. The Government will ensure
that the legislation, while respecting the fiscal parameters
of the proposed reforms, is responsive to the realities of
the Canadian job market and that the impact of changes does
not fall unfairly on workers who are most in need of
support.
- The Government will accelerate its current discussions
with the provinces on labour market training and development
to ensure the orderly withdrawal of federal activity in
training, and to explore new approaches and the appropriate
roles and responsibilities of each level of government for
strengthening national and local labour markets.
Environmental Security
While sustaining the social safety net is an essential
element of security for Canadians, it is not all. The quality of
Canada's natural environment is a matter of national pride.
Security for Canadians means sustaining our environment. All
Canadians must work together to protect the environment. In
particular:
- The Government will propose the modernization of the
Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
- A federal Endangered Species Protection Act will be
introduced.
- Legislation to ratify the UN Straddling Stocks Agreement
and the Law of the Sea Convention will be presented to
Parliament.
- The Government will promote the long-term conservation
and revitalization of the Pacific salmon fishery and
continue with the revitalization of the east coast fishery.
National parks are the heritage of a nation. The Government
will seek agreements with provincial and territorial governments
and with First Nations to establish new national parks and
national marine conservation areas.
The solutions to many environmental problems lie outside our
borders. The Government will continue to play an environmental
leadership role both at home and in the international arena.
Personal Security
The non-violent character of our country -- safe homes, safe
streets -- is also an essential element of security for
Canadians. The Government will focus corrections resources on
high-risk offenders while increasing efforts to lower the number
of young people who come into contact with the justice system.
The Government will develop innovative alternatives to
incarceration for low-risk offenders. Criminal procedures will
be reformed to better serve victims of crime.
International Security
In an interdependent world, security means taking an active
role on the international stage. All Canadians strongly identify
with, and take great pride in, the role Canada plays in the
world. The Government will continue to work in the G-7, NATO and
the United Nations for a more stable and peaceful world. It will
pursue a wider spread entrenchment of democracy, and greater
respect for human rights.
In keeping with its commitment to advancing human rights and
dignity, the Government will make the rights of children a
Canadian priority and seek an international consensus to
eliminate exploitative child labour.
The Government will pay special attention to addressing the
growing crisis of confidence in the United Nations, which
Canadians rightly regard as the most important multilateral
organization to ensure international peace and security.
Canada will also do its part to help keep and build peace in
Bosnia, Haiti, the Middle East and elsewhere.
A Modern and United Country
Canadians have a common history, a common collective
experience, a shared territory, and institutions that are
uniquely our own. The Government will act to preserve this
heritage.
Canadians also agree upon the values and principles which
bind us together and give us confidence in ourselves and in each
other.
On October 27, the people of Canada came together in their
own communities and in Montreal to demonstrate as never before
the will to stay together. On October 30, the people of Quebec
voted in a referendum to stay in Canada.
At the same time, the referendum result gave a clear message
that Quebeckers want change in the federation. This desire for
change is broadly shared across Canada. The Government will act
on a responsible agenda for change for all of Canada.
In the last two years, the Government has made significant
changes in a number of areas. The Government will work with the
provinces and individual Canadians to ensure that the Canadian
federation is modernized to meet the needs of the 21st century.
This modernization must be respectful of our diversity and be
based on partnership and dialogue. Canadians want and expect
governments to be flexible and to operate efficiently and
effectively so that the country functions well. In particular:
- The Government will not use its spending power to create
new shared-cost programs in areas of exclusive provincial
jurisdiction without the consent of a majority of the
provinces. Any new program will be designed so that
non-participating provinces will be compensated, provided
they establish equivalent or comparable initiatives.
- There are areas where, in the 21st century, the federal
government does not have to be involved. For example,
components of Canada's transportation infrastructure are
being transferred to community-based groups, municipal
authorities and the private sector.
- The Government is prepared to withdraw from its
functions in such areas as labour market training, forestry,
mining, and recreation, that are more appropriately the
responsibility of others, including provincial governments,
local authorities or the private sector.
- The federal government will propose to the provinces a
much strengthened process to work in partnership, focussing
on such priorities as food inspection, environmental
management, social housing, tourism and freshwater fish
habitat.
The federal government has an important contribution to make
in preserving and modernizing Canada's social union so that the
caring society remains Canada-wide in scope. In particular:
- The Government will work with the provinces and
Canadians to develop agreed-upon values and principles to
underlie the social union and to explore new approaches to
decision making in social policy.
- The Government will continue to protect and promote
unhampered social mobility between provinces and access to
social and other benefits, and will work with the provinces
to identify new and mutually agreed approaches.
The federal government has a major role to play in
strengthening the Canadian economy and the Canadian economic
union. The Government will work with the provinces to take
concrete steps to further improve the functioning of the
Canadian economic union. In particular:
- The Internal Trade Agreement, which came into effect in
July 1995, must be improved. The government will work with
the provinces and the private sector to achieve a much more
open agreement.
- The Government is prepared to work with the provinces
and other partners to reduce or eliminate remaining barriers
to labour mobility.
- The Government is prepared to work with interested
provinces towards the development of a Canadian Securities
Commission, a single food inspection service, and a national
revenue collection agency.
The Government welcomes public participation in the debate
about Canada. It will encourage Parliament to reach out to
Canadians to seek their views on the specific components of an
agenda for change.
A First Ministers meeting will be called in the months ahead
to discuss how governments can better work together for job
creation in Canada, how to secure the social safety net and how
to put into place a common agenda for change to renew Canada.
The Government intends to focus its energies on positive
action to prepare Canada for the 21st century. The Government
welcomes the commitment of the new government of Quebec to focus
all its energies on the real problems of its citizens. The
Government will work in collaboration with the Government of
Quebec and all provincial governments on an agenda of economic
renewal and job creation.
But as long as the prospect of another Quebec referendum
exists, the Government will exercise its responsibility to
ensure that the debate is conducted with all the facts on the
table, that the rules of the process are fair, that the
consequences are clear, and that Canadians, no matter where they
live, will have their say in the future of their country.
The Government recognizes that national unity is more than a
re-balancing of roles and responsibilities of levels of
government.
At a time of globalization of the economy, Canada is
especially well placed to compete because of two official
languages and the many Canadians who speak languages other than
English and French. The Government recognizes that because of
the minority status of the French language in North America,
French-speaking Canadians have legitimate concerns. The
Government affirms that it is particularly important to
reinforce a Francophone presence at home and abroad. Such a
presence contributes to our national identity and is a source of
strength and enrichment for our country.
Action has already been taken to recognize Quebec as a
distinct society within Canada and to guarantee that no
constitutional change affecting any major region of the country
will take place without the consent of that region. The
Government supports the entrenchment of these provisions in the
Constitution.
National unity means reminding Canadians of what they have in
common. The Government will put forward a series of measures
with special emphasis on helping Canadians, particularly young
Canadians, to broaden their experience of Canada and to learn
more about their country. A new Citizenship Act will be
introduced to better reflect contemporary views of the rights
and responsibilities of citizenship.
Culture is at the core of our identity as Canadians. The
Government is committed to strong Canadian cultural industries.
The Government will propose measures to strengthen culture in
Canada and will ensure continued access to our own cultural
products in order to maintain a balance between Canadian
perspectives and those from abroad. The Government reaffirms its
commitment to ensuring the long-term vitality of the CBC, the
National Film Board and Telefilm Canada as institutions which
interpret Canada to Canadians and to the world.
The Government believes that one of the tests of Canadian
values is our ability to incorporate the aspirations of Canada's
Aboriginal peoples. The recent historic Nisga'a agreement in
principle shows that this is possible. The Minister of Indian
Affairs and Northern Development will continue to pursue other
initiatives in partnership with Aboriginal people and other
governments.
Honourable Members of the Senate;
Members of the House of Commons:
In looking to the 21st century, it is essential that the
federal government, in its own policies and programs, be
dedicated to providing modern, flexible public services --
services that are accessible, affordable and responsive to the
needs of clients and citizens. The Government acknowledges the
contribution of the Public Service of Canada to the continuing
achievement of its goals. Further measures will be introduced to
enable more flexible and innovative methods of service delivery.
By working in partnership throughout Canadian society to
create jobs and economic opportunity, to provide the security of
a modern social safety net, and to preserve national unity, the
Government affirms that a legacy of hope can be left to future
generations.
Members of the House of Commons:
You will be asked to appropriate the funds required to carry
out the services and expenditures authorized by Parliament.
May Divine Providence guide all of you in your deliberations.
