Good morning Vancouver, Yellowknife, Calgary and Saskatoon. Good afternoon Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

Here we are in eight different places across four different time zones. We came together at precisely the same moment. Confident that we would share time together. At one level, that confidence comes via a made-in-Canada satellite that enables video conferencing hook-ups that defy distance.

But our certainty is also rooted in a series of national and international standards that fix our moments in time. Those standards ensure that products and services we often take for granted work the same way, all the time, no matter where we are.

Travel to Oxford, England, and it would be a different story. There, on a clock mounted on the tower of Christ Church Cathedral, time runs five minutes behind the rest of the world. In 1852, Britain adopted Greenwich Mean Time to synchronize railway timetables once calculated by the position of the sun. Oxford sits one-and-one-quarter degrees west of Greenwich. Because of that, the precise solar time on the clock was five minutes — a minute for every quarter-degree — behind the master clock a stone's throw down the River Thames. Academic authorities at Oxford refused to re-set the clock. They saw no reason to change what was scientifically correct — for them. As far they were concerned, the Oxford clock should run on its own Cathedral Time.

Canada and the rest of the world cannot afford such eccentric isolation. We live in a fiercely competitive global environment transformed daily by technology, where success is measured in large part by precision and speed.

In a knowledge-based economy, we all know that it's not enough that Canadian businesses produce goods and services that are simply unique. In most cases, old rules that dictated our thinking no longer apply. "Business as usual" has been transformed by "dot-com".

New rules will determine who flourishes, and who falls behind. At the heart of those new rules are standards that protect our health, our safety, and our environment. These standards help improve the quality of the goods and services we use.

A healthy standards regime is essential to the global trade system, especially as barriers are eliminated and regulatory systems are reduced.

As information technologies continue to evolve, that regime must serve the needs of Canadian businesses and fit the expectations of our markets. That cannot happen unless there is unprecedented collaboration among consumer groups, industry and the provincial and federal governments.

Increasingly, international agreements and codes are governing key health, safety and environmental issues. Both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization are committed to international standards harmonization. Many countries are enshrining international standards into their regulatory regimes and at least 120 countries, Canada included, take part in their development.

Individual industries, such as auto manufacturers and the high-tech sector, insist that suppliers meet international specifications. Once restricted to technical issues, voluntary standards are now expanding their influence into new areas, such as sustainable development, privacy issues and the service sector. In Canada last year, more than 60 per cent of the national standards approved were based on international standards. That trend reflects our own shift in trade: 60 per cent of Canadian manufactured goods are exported to other nations. In 1980, only 25 per cent of our goods were exported.

Not surprisingly, the Canadian Standards Strategy released today is a critical component of our long-term innovation agenda. Canada needs to comply with and help shape a growing number of international standards. We need to ensure unfettered access to markets around the world.

A few years ago, we amended the legislation governing the Standards Council of Canada. These changes modernized its operations and provided the Standards Council with a sharper focus for its strategic leadership role in advancing Canada's standards interests. This comprehensive strategy gives the SCC the muscle to take its clout several steps further. Canadian businesses and other National Safety Standards stakeholders benefit from this strategy.

Our intention is to make Canada a world leader in the smart use of electronic ways of doing business. This is not something on a wish list: it is an imperative. The growth potential of on-line business is phenomenal: many observers place its value in the trillions of dollars within the next four years.

Yet consumers have expressed repeated fears that shopping electronically is risky business. E-com saves in production and distribution costs but is still an uncharted way of selling and buying.

Internationally recognized standards that set out fundamental principles of e-com will go a long way towards addressing those concerns. As will the creation of a secure public key infrastructure that guarantees confidentiality and the non-repudiation of transactions. Whether those standards favour Canadian interests depends largely upon you, and the results that flow from the partnerships this strategy will create.

None of us can do this alone. The federal Electronic Commerce Strategy is designed to create an environment where e-commerce can thrive. But only the development of strategies and standards that ensure a Canadian presence at the global table will make it fly.

Canada was the first country in the world to develop a voluntary code for privacy protection standards. Now we must persuade other countries to adopt similar standards. E-commerce knows no barriers. Canadians need to know that their information is protected across the World Wide Web.

My goal as Industry Minister, and the goal of our government, is to make Canada the most connected country in the world. Nowhere, perhaps, is that connection more important than in the sector of small- and medium-sized enterprises, the engine of the Canadian economy.

Yet many emerging industries are unaware of the opportunities provided by standards development. They are also not aware of conformity assessment activity at the national and the international levels. In particular, many industries do not realize the value of a strong Canadian voice in international standards development as a means of meeting consumer concerns and reducing barriers to trade.

That's akin to bolting onto a playing field without knowing the rules of the game. Far-sighted companies, like Ballard Power Systems of Burnaby, B.C., are not prepared to take such a gamble. Ballard is a world leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology, a non-polluting, highly efficient power source. Realizing that standards will play a key role in the development and acceptance of this technology, the company is taking an active role in the international committees. These committees are responsible for the standards that will mould the industry.

That's not prescience, it's preparation. It's the kind of entrepreneurial thinking that will make Canada a cutting-edge power in the world economy.

What makes the National Standards System strong is the involvement of all sectors of the Canadian economy and society. What will make it stronger is more of you, working with consumers, regulators and other interested parties to fashion well-defined and widely applied standards that open the door to new opportunities.

Global harmonization works best for all Canadians only if our priorities, interests and objectives are realized. I believe that the Canadian Standards Strategy gives us the vision and the direction to succeed in these efforts.

It's time for all players in the NSS to buy into the strategy, to make concrete plans for its implementation, and to realize its vision.

Thank you in advance for the hard work you are about to undertake.

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Date Modified: 2004-08-31 Important Notices