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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. PETTIGREW - ADDRESS TO THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF CANADA 1999 NATIONAL CONFERENCE, FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE PIERRE S. PETTIGREW, MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE, TO THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF CANADA 1999 NATIONAL CONFERENCE "GLOBALIZATION: SETTING THE CONTEXT" FREDERICTON, New Brunswick August 30, 1999 Thank you very much for your warm welcome here this morning. Your National Conference Chair, Claire Morris, told me that it would be worthwhile to attend this event, and I can see that she was right. This conference attracts people with a profound interest in the quality and effectiveness of our public service at all levels of government in Canada. It is a place to examine the issues that transcend boundaries and that challenge all of us who believe that government has a valuable role to play in the life of Canada. I know that the Institute of Public Administration of Canada [IPAC] has played an important role in the evolution of a truly professional public service in Canada over many years. So it is not surprising that you have recognized the need to consider the impact of the global environment on the work and choices of public servants. Globalization is forcing us to rethink how our economies operate. Globalization is forcing us to rethink what governments do. And globalization is forcing us to rethink how societies themselves will function. As I looked over the agenda for this conference, I was interested to see the many ways that you have chosen to analyse the impact of globalization on public services in Canada. I have thought about these impacts a great deal, as you know. I have seen how globalization shapes our choices in new ways, both in my professional life before I entered public office and as a minister. It is at the core of my environment now that I am Minister for International Trade. Today I want to cover a number of topics that I hope will help frame your discussions here in Fredericton. First, I want to offer some thoughts on globalization and its benefits to Canada. Second, I want to talk about what it means to societies and governments. Third, I want to look ahead to our trade agenda and its social dimensions. Overall, I want to make a few very fundamental points. Globalization is a massive force, but people can guide that force. We can put a human face on globalization. We can ensure that we are working toward the human purpose of the economy, and not simply have economic forces working on us. There is a place for government in all this, but it is a place that requires us to rethink and reinvent government for a new and changing environment. Finally, and most important, if there is one country that can succeed in the new world of globalization, it is Canada. This country chose a path based on diversity and openness unlike almost any other. That is the path that will bring us benefits for a long time to come. Globalization and Its Benefits Globalization is a term with many definitions, depending, it seems, on the speaker. To me it implies a high degree of functional integration of economic, industrial and financial activities that are widely dispersed. The interactions are increasingly at the individual level, and borders matter less and less. Some might not think that putting a human face on that phenomenon is possible, but I do not see globalization as only an economic process. The Internet and modern media bring cultures and arts together in ways we could never have envisioned a generation ago. Trade links are encouraging cultural links and a dialogue on culture that moves across the frontiers of geography, mind and spirit. Just last week in Mexico City I had the honour of helping inaugurate an exhibition by Canada's Group of Seven at the Museo de Arte Moderno, and a Mexican exhibit of modern art will visit Canada later this year. We are sharing cultural links that helped shape our societies, and that help explain who we are and what we are. Still, the most obvious benefits are economic, for they have a dollars and cents value. Canada is a trading state. Our exports account for more than 40 percent of our GDP [gross domestic product], more than in any other G-7 nation. Since Canadians elected this government in 1993, our export and import performance has exceeded domestic growth by almost two to one. Each billion dollars of exports sustains about 11 000 jobs here in Canada. Our foreign direct investment has risen by 54 percent since 1993. There is no denying the benefits of these activities. The result of those facts, duplicated in countries around the world, is that 200 years of fighting on the economy between socialists and capitalists, liberals and communists, is over. Market-oriented approaches won. Globalization and Its Challenges The successes are not enough to permit complacency. I do not believe that "everything is for the best, in this, the best possible of all worlds." For all that the market can do, it cannot do everything. Nor does it even try. After years in the private sector, I can say that from first-hand experience. Markets are good at addressing immediate issues in the economy, not the long term. They answer to the stomach and to today's needs and desires. They do not think through to the broad effects of our choices in a year or a generation from now. Another challenge is the exclusion of people, communities and entire countries from the benefits of globalization. Exclusion is a much newer concept than exploitation. Exploitation was a fundamental concern for the last 200 years of industrial capitalism. But exclusion is something different. It is simply feeling cut off, while the rest of the world goes on. Cut off without the sense of power to change that state. We all see that. There is an obvious sense of unease among people who fear exclusion in the face of economic change. They know so much has changed so quickly and they wonder about their ability to keep up. They see a world in which physical resources no longer mean wealth in the ways they once did. Or where a few can create wealth for themselves at the touch of a keyboard. Or where skills dictate a growing gap between those who are fully engaged in society and those who are at the margins. Globalization and Governments The limits to what markets can achieve and the challenges of exclusion are reasons why I reject the claim that governments no longer really matter, except for providing the most basic services. The apparent triumph of capitalism did not make us all just individuals, each in our own economic life raft. Instead, it is time to revisit the links between our social and economic worlds. I have always believed that economic policy and social policy are two sides of the same coin -- not just in government but throughout the life of a country. I have made that a fundamental part of my approach to all my portfolios in government. As Minister for International Co-operation, I saw our goal as ensuring that people had the capacity to be part of the modern economy and to build more open, democratic and modern societies. That meant support on both the social and economic sides. The same was true when I was Minister of Human Resources Development, too. Initiatives such as the National Child Benefit or programs to bring about greater participation for Canadians with disabilities were about enabling all Canadians to be part of the lives of their communities in the richest possible sense of that term. Markets, no matter how well they work, cannot achieve those results. I firmly believe that globalization can achieve its full beneficial potential only if we have political systems that are capable of ensuring that benefits go to all, not just a few, and that real democracy thrives. I believe government has to change to ensure that it plays the most productive role when it comes to helping citizens, communities and countries deal with globalization. I see a clear place for the flexible and open politics of a country like Canada -- updated for the age of globalization. Our goal should be to reinvent government. Our challenge should be to show citizens the role that government can play for the good of society, given today's realities. Our commitment should be to make markets work better. That would mean politics that reflect the democratic values and inclusiveness that ultimately make economic activity more sustainable. I am not just looking into the future. I know that reinvention is well under way in Canada. That is why I am in government now. The Quebec Referendum and My Choice About three and a half years ago, I joined the Cabinet and Parliament of Canada to address the immediate circumstances of that time. There had been a referendum in Quebec. The outcome was too close for comfort. So I entered politics just to show that Canadian federalism could modernize itself. It could adapt to the challenges of globalization. It could set out new ways of working with the provinces. Above all, I wanted people, and especially our youth, to rediscover the sense of Canada as more than an idea, more than a dream. I wanted people to see this country as a project that has lasted for 150 years -- a project that positions us brilliantly for the challenges of globalization. I firmly believe that the values of liberalism have served Canada well. They are keys to resolving the anguish and insecurities that people feel -- not just here, but in many other countries, too. That's why I entitled my book The New Politics of Confidence or Pour une politique de la confiance. The Canadian Exception I think that Canada has two major advantages over any country in the world, and as I hinted at the beginning of my remarks, those advantages are serving us well in the new world of globalization. The first of those advantages is our openness to diversity. This is not merely a slogan. It was a conscious choice that Canadians made in the middle of the 19th century. That was the era of the nation-state. First, in many parts of the world, governments took active steps to erase the differences within their borders. In France, languages such as Breton or Provençal were driven from public life. In the United Kingdom, the Welsh and Gaelic languages suffered the same fate. Second, those minorities were assimilated into the larger nation-state. That could have happened here -- it was what Lord Durham proposed. But LaFontaine, Baldwin and other leaders of the day chose otherwise. They chose to build a country based on accommodation. They looked at the reality around them, and decided that our future lay in building a community based on political citizenship and shared values, not on ethnic, linguistic or religious terms. We built a mosaic, not a melting pot. It was an approach to diversity that helped to create what Canada is, and who Canadians are. It was an approach that has served us well because it meant respect for differences. Now, look at the world of today. It is a world in which cultural ideas travel like never before. It is a world in which peoples mix more than ever. I firmly believe that globalization invites us to move from the image of a mosaic to the image of a kaleidoscope. A mosaic is static -- each tile is fixed, and does not move. But a kaleidoscope is about motion and change. That is the model for globalization. It reflects the endless possibilities, nuances and subtleties of life in a global environment. In both a kaleidoscope and our current global environment, the diversity never stops. This is not just an idea. It is the reality of my own riding of Papineau-Saint-Denis in Montreal. I walk down the streets of my riding and meet people who speak two or three or more of the 54 languages that are represented there. I see people who come from countries like Greece or Turkey or Cyprus who live uneasily with each other in the Old World, but who live together in Montreal. So my conviction is that Canada needs to become more Canadian to succeed in the context of globalization. We accepted diversity. We learned how to manage it surprisingly well, if not always quietly. We learned to adapt and accept. Canada can make the leap to a world of change and diversity better than countries that are still locked into a rigid sense of nationhood. Canada -- A Strong Civil Society and an Openness to the World Let me turn to the second great advantage that Canada has in addressing the challenges of globalization -- that is our sense of civil society. Many countries are wrestling with the balance between the individual and society. I don't find Canadians to be as fixed on this issue. We have learned to live together, equal but different. Part of this may be our "northernness" or "nordicity." The realities of life in a harsh climate like ours are simple. If you think you can succeed all by yourself, our winters will probably kill you trying. On the other hand, if you can work with others and build a community with give and take, then everyone is more likely to succeed. The First Nations knew it long ago. The settlers, whether from France or the United Kingdom or Germany or China, learned it too. They learned that even the strongest have to co-operate to survive. They learned that we need a reasonable balance between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community. And that lesson is still with us today. Most Canadians don't expect everyone to be alike. And they don't ignore the needs and concerns of those around them, either. Bringing the Canadian Exception into International Life Canada has always tried to bring that balance into international relations from the time that Mackenzie King first began to carve out a real place for Canada. Some people think that globalization means the end of national sovereignty. They look at our work since the Second World War to build a stronger multilateral framework, and they claim to see the steady decline of an independent Canada. But their romantic notion of national sovereignty is a hollow one. The point of national sovereignty is to help us achieve our goals as a country. But what country can achieve its goals if it creates no jobs for its citizens? What country can achieve its goals if its world is a dark and hostile place? We've helped to build stronger international structures precisely to get rules in place to govern how countries work with each other. We did it to get more Canadians working. And the results are obvious. Strengthening the rules that govern international trade has opened doors for Canada to grow, and has added jobs to the point where one in three Canadian jobs depends on trade. These are more than economic benefits for some. They are the keys to an improved quality of life for all Canadians in all communities. They mean the resources that we need to reinvest into our social programs. The vast majority of the new jobs created in Canada since our government was elected are thanks to trade. That is a great record. But if we want to bring the success of Canada into the new world of globalization, then we have to bring the concern that Canadians have always had about ensuring that people are not left behind. An Active Commitment to Trade and Its Social Dimension With the issues before us, our goal must be to get globalization right. And that is our goal. We can make sure that globalization has a human face. We can guide it so it helps us to realize the human purpose of the economy. Our agenda reflects this. For example, next month I will join the Prime Minister and First Ministers on a Team Canada mission to Japan and Australia. We are expanding the reach of our trade efforts to encompass the changing reality of our economy. That means reaching out to the rapidly expanding number of women, young people and Aboriginal people who are ready to export products and services. But it goes beyond those valuable initiatives. We need to build the social base to increase economic activity, including trade. This means taking steps to help people gain the confidence that they will succeed in a globalized economy. Those steps include the kinds of domestic social policies that you are discussing here, and that our government has made a focal point of its work. A strong commitment to the multilateral system has to be part of that government role, too. As I noted before, Canada and Canadians have been instrumental in building the international trade system. But we recognize that our commitment to expanded international trade has had its share of dilemmas. People have raised valid concerns about the impact of globalization on labour or environmental standards. They have expressed concerns that countries could see lax environmental or labour laws as a means to gain some advantage in a competitive world marketplace. I understand those reservations, and I believe that we can respond. The first part of the solution is to follow through on the work that is already taking place to address those specific issues. From November 30 to December 3, the World Trade Organization will hold its Ministerial Meeting in Seattle. That meeting will launch a new round of trade negotiations that we hope will build on the enormous progress of previous rounds. Among other things, we want to see consideration of the environmental implications of trade. I know that some countries are resistant to this direction. The way forward will not be a simple one, but it is one to which I am committed and to which our government is committed. I can say the same about labour rights. My officials have worked closely with officials in my old department on international labour rights issues at the International Labour Organization. That kind of co-operative work across departments is something that I believe is very important. It means a degree of policy coherence that is essential if Canada is to promote an effective international agenda, and if we are to promote the Canadian values that are so clearly at the heart of that agenda. I am looking forward to working with my Cabinet colleagues on these issues. It is as important for other ministers to pursue them at meetings of the international organization for which they are responsible. And I know that they do. Mobilizing Our Collective Energy for Results Getting results will come from the same direction that our government has taken at home on Canada's domestic priorities. We need to mobilize the collective energy of governments and people around the world in support of these issues. That is the kind of flexibility and focus on results and values that Canadians now expect from their governments. Let me give you a very tangible example, the National Child Benefit. The last time that I read the Constitution, I did not see the word "children" anywhere in it. And yet, ensuring that Canada's youngest citizens get off to the best possible start in life is important for the future of our society and our economy. It is not a narrow question of jurisdiction. It is a question of getting the job done in the way that works best. So, I worked closely with the provinces, as real partners who were already committed to children. We recognized that jurisdictions are more and more porous as issues become more and more complex. So we looked for ways to work together, and the result was more money for children through a better Canada Child Tax Benefit from the Government of Canada, and the reallocation of funds to child and family supports by provincial governments. I think we can do the same on the international trade front. Much of this is happening now through the shared participation of First Ministers in Team Canada missions. Our trade personnel abroad help provincial trade missions to carry out their work. I think that as we tackle more complex trade issues, there can be room for provincial input and involvement. I also firmly believe that governments have to listen to and work with non-governmental organizations [NGOs] that are committed to making the multilateral system work better. The men and women of corporate Canada need to show the same ethic of care in their international dealings as they are increasingly showing here at home on domestic priorities. This includes recognizing the growing importance of the consumer as more people around the world look for ethics as well as value in their purchases. By engaging this collective energy, we will be achieving more than just progress on the social dimensions of trade, which is so necessary. I believe this approach can only serve to build confidence in the ability of Canadians to work together toward common goals, based on shared values. As I point out in my book, thinkers like Alain Peyrefitte and Francis Fukuyama have argued quite persuasively that the more we build trust and confidence in our societies, the more we will sow the seeds of success for everyone, and not just in Canada. We will be able to show Canadians that the way to bring about improvement in environmental or labour issues in other countries is to make the multilateral system work better, not to short-circuit it. For the evidence is clear: old barriers are coming down. Old limits are giving way to new choices -- perhaps not as fast as we might like, but progress is there. To me, that is the politics of confidence on an international scale. That is the way we work toward the human purpose of the economy. Conclusion Let me conclude with a few comments regarding the work I have ahead of me. I am truly excited about the work before me as Minister for International Trade. My new portfolio represents a golden opportunity to show how connected our social and economic agendas are. It represents the chance to help promote the social dimension of trade. And by doing that, we can do a great deal to expand support for trade in our societies. It is more than a question of public opinion ratings. It is more fundamental and enduring than that. We can put a human face on globalization. We can ensure that we are working toward an economy that fulfils its human purpose. That will happen because governments reinvent themselves to take a strategic role in making the forces of globalization work for our citizens and our countries. To me, Canada is ideally situated to make the most of the opportunities that globalization presents. We take strength from our diversity. That power will be a key to success in a world that demands flexibility and adaptation. We have learned how to enable businesses and people to adjust to change, to the demands of a diverse domestic marketplace and a strong international trade orientation. Our governments have been able to live in that innovative and flexible "third way" that other international leaders have only recently begun to talk about. Thanks to that, we can create a climate that enables more people to feel confident about their future, confident about their children's future, and confident about their country and its future, too. We can define a role for the state in the context of globalization that will result in more benefits for the greatest possible number of people. I am glad to be in a position in which I can contribute. And I believe that public servants can be, too. Thank you. </body> </html>

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