The President of the Treasury Board of Canada Tables Canada's Performance 2002

November 21, 2002

OTTAWA - November 21, 2002 - The Honourable Lucienne Robillard, President of the Treasury Board of Canada and MP for Westmount - Ville-Marie, today tabled Canada's Performance 2002 in the House of Commons.

Published for the first time in December 2001, Canada's Performance is a very comprehensive report as it includes information on as many as 19 societal indicators that reflect a balance among social, economic and environmental themes. The indicators are grouped into four main themes: economic opportunities and innovation, health, environment, and the strength and safety of communities.

"This report is a reference tool that will help Canadians to better evaluate the Government of Canada's performance and to play a greater role in developing public policy, " stated Madame Robillard. "Our government believes that a strong democracy like Canada's is built on the active engagement of its citizens and their understanding of the country's social and economic issues."

Canada's Performance 2002 highlights Canada's strengths as well as the areas in which we can do better. The information in this report shows there have been successes in the health field. Improvements are especially evident in terms of life expectancy and infant mortality rates. In the last decade, life expectancy at birth has steadily increased from 77.3 years in 1989 to nearly 79 years in 1999. As for infant mortality, it has steadily decreased from 7.1 to 5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1989 and 1999. Canada's economy has also demonstrated solid performance, especially in employment. However, the results also indicate that some segments of the population are still living below the poverty line and that Canada faces challenges with respect to the environment and the need for a more involved civil society.

"Canada's Performance  is a unique report as it establishes links between federal program performance and socio-economic outcomes, while also allowing us to compare Canada with other countries," explained Madame Robillard, pointing out that Canada is the only country to issue such a report.

Please refer to the attached backgrounder for more information about this report.

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For more information, contact:

Daniel Grenier
Press Secretary
Office of the President of the
Treasury Board of Canada
(613) 957-2666

Mario Baril
Media Relations
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
(613) 957-2391

TTY (Telecommunications device for the hearing impaired) - (613) 957-9090

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL BE CONSIDERED OFFICIAL

Backgrounder

Canada's Performance 2002

Introduction

Canada's Performance 2002 reports on the quality of life of Canadians as measured by 19 societal indicators grouped under the following themes: economic opportunities and innovation, health, environment and the strength and safety of communities. In addition to showing how our national performance has changed over time, the report compares Canada to many other post-industrial nations.

Improvements to this year's report include the addition of a "Performance Highlights" section, summarizing Canada's performance over several years in each of the areas covered in the report. The report also includes more disaggregated data than last year. For example, there are breakdowns by region, by gender and by groups of Canadians such as Aboriginal peoples and new immigrants. To facilitate government-wide analysis, the report also groups departments and agencies that work towards similar objectives within each theme. Through links to a database, the electronic version of the report provides access to departmental reports on plans and priorities, departmental performance reports, and audit and evaluation information.

Background

Canada's Performance 2002 is part of a multi-year initiative to provide a context for assessing the performance of federal programs and initiatives.

The objective of Canada's Performance 2002 is to engage Canadians in a discussion on broad policy issues and directions. It seeks to improve the availability and quality of performance information on federal programs and initiatives offered to Canadians. Finally, it provides parliamentarians with a context to review the performance of federal departments and agencies.

The indicators and themes remain consistent with government priorities, as outlined in the recent speeches from the throne.

The themes and societal indicators are:

1. Economic opportunities and innovation: real gross domestic product per capita, real disposable income per capita, innovation, employment, literacy and educational attainment.
2. Health: life expectancy, self-rated health status, infant mortality and physical activity.
3. Environment: air quality, water quality, biodiversity and toxic substances in the environment.
4. Strength and safety of communities: volunteerism, attitudes toward diversity, cultural participation, political participation and safety and security.

Canada's Performance 2002 highlights Canada's strengths as well as areas in which we need improvement, pointing to our successes and our challenges.