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"Health Care: From Reinvesting to Reinventing" interview with Michael Kirby With the release in late October and November of the Kirby and Romanow reports, the debate on reinvesting in health care, and even reinventing it, has reached the point where Ottawa has no shortage of recommendations, only decisions to make about where to find new funding. In his office on Parliament Hill, Michael Kirby, Liberal chairman of an epic three-year Senate inquiry that produced five volumes of research and analysis, discussed his committee’s bipartisan recommendations with L. Ian MacDonald, editor of Policy Options. "The Democratic Deficit" by Paul Martin Excerpts from a speech on parliamentary reform and public ethics given by Paul Martin, the former finance minister and leading contender for the Liberal leadership, at Osgoode Hall, York University, Toronto, October 21. "From Montreal to Kyoto, How We Got From Here to There-Or Not" by Elizabeth May The macro-environmental issue of climate change was first seriously addressed by the 1987 Montreal Protocol to reduce ozone depletion. The 1992 Rio Earth Summit agreed to the first global treaty on climate change. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012, but needs support by 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of 1990 global emissions to come into effect. When George W. Bush walked away from Kyoto in 2001, he took 25 percent of the world’s 1990 GHG emissions with him. Canada’s support became all the more important both as one of 55 signatories and as the producer of 2 percent of global GHG emissions. Prime Minister Chrétien told the world at the Johannesburg Summit that Canada would ratify the accord. Elizabeth May recounts Canada’s journey on the road from Montreal to Kyoto, a road she has personally travelled with passion and conviction. "The OECD and Sustainable Development: A Call for Leadership" by Donald J. Johnston The 30 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) account for only 20 percent of the world’s population, but over 80 percent of global output and nearly 60 percent of its energy consumption. In this exclusive article for Policy Options from Paris, OECD Secretary-General Donald Johnston, a Canadian who served in senior economic portfolios in the Trudeau cabinet, benchmarks the progress made by the world’s developed economies, considers the gaps with developing nations, and weighs the challenges still to be faced on climate change and sustainable development. "Kyoto and the Absence of Leadership in Canada's Capitals" by Ian Urquhart A University of Alberta professor asserts that Alberta’s case against Kyoto is “wrongheaded,” arguing that it rests on a dubious foundation—the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. As for the challenge of Kyoto emission reduction goals in the oil patch, British Petroleum has already reduced emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels, “at no economic cost,” according to BP chairman Lord Browne. As to the suggestion that Kyoto represents a second coming of the National Energy Program, the comparison is inapt. The NEP was a confiscatory regime and a utopian scheme to create a made-in-Canada oil price in global markets. Kyoto implementation costs are likely to be much more incremental than the apocalyptic scenarios suggest. Kyoto also represents an opportunity to create federal-provincial strategies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the benefit of all regions. What’s missing is genuine leadership, which is nowhere to be seen in Canada’s capital cities. "Giving Credit Where Credit is Due" by Daniel Gagnier The federal government’s plan to implement the Kyoto Protocol fails to recognize massive GHG (greenhouse gas) reductions already achieved by companies like Alcan. By proposing 2000, or even a later period, as the baseline for trading emission credits, Ottawa will put any company that successfully reduced emissions before that time at a disadvantage, receiving little if any recognition for investments resulting in reduced GHG emissions. Bottom line for any Canadian framework under the Kyoto Protocol—don’t penalize success. "Kyoto : Pour une stratégie canadienne flexible" by Philippe Barla, Jean-Thomas Bernard and Michel Roland The Canadian government has completed a consultation about the policy instruments to implement the Kyoto Protocol. The consultation participants tend to favour an interventionist approach by government. In order to minimize the negative impact on the Canadian economy, it would be better to use a system of emission permits exchange with the possibility to buy permits on the world market. "The Case for Kyoto: A Question of Competitiveness, Consultations, Credibility, Commitment and Consistency" by Désirée McGraw Ottawa’s continued mixed messages have confounded the international community and created a domestic policy vacuum, leaving the provinces divided between opponents such as Alberta and supporters such as Quebec. In the decade since Rio, Canada is perceived as having gone from leader to laggard on the environment. Why, in the five years since Kyoto, has Canada failed to produce a national action plan to implement it? Désirée McGraw proposes five principles, “the 5Cs” for moving ahead with Kyoto. Far more than a matter of environmental policy, she concludes, it is “increasingly a matter of national and collective security.” "Incidences de l'approche fédérale sur le secteur industriel" by Jean Nolet and Myriam Blais The costs and benefits associated with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol will depend on the means implemented to achieve the targets of greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. But as proposed by the federal government, the initial methods of allocating exchangeable permits applicable to large industrial emitters will penalize the manufacturing sector and favour the energy sector. To eliminate this bias and to achieve the targets of GHG reduction at a lesser cost, the method of permit allocation should distinguish between the energy and manufacturing sectors; be based on the commodities marketed; and take account of the intensity of GHG emissions so as to encourage a transfer towards the cleanest types of energy. "A Case for Investment in Rail and Intermodal Transport" by Chris Jones and Bill Rowat The authors argue for rail and intermodal transport as sustainable solutions to transportation infrastructure and the environment in the 21st century. As executives of the Railway Association of Canada, they obviously have a vested interest in rail solutions, passenger and freight, to the overburdened Canadian network of roads. They assert that Canada lacks, and urgently needs, a strategic vision for multimodal transportation. With respect to greenhouse gases (GHG), they point out that the rail segment accounts for only 4 percent of emissions in the transportation sector, and that rail has actually reduced emissions to 3.5 percent below 1990 levels; it is thus nearing compliance with the Kyoto targets, even while shipping activity has increased 29 percent over the period 1990-2000. "A Business Case for Responsible Climate Change" by Thomas d'Aquino Ottawa has failed to answer the question of how much it would cost to implement Kyoto and who would pay for it. Jean Chrétien plans to ratify it first and figure out how to accomplish it later. Not good enough, writes the President of the country’s pre-eminent business lobby, the Canadian Council of Chief of Executives, who urges consultations and a made-in-Canada solution. "Two Roads to Kyoto: More or Less" by Jim Stanford Will Canadians work towards our Kyoto commitments by doing less, or by doing more? That’s the fundamental choice, and it will determine whether Kyoto is good or bad for the economy. Positive, proactive measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a better strategy than consuming less, driving less and turning down the thermostat. Canadians can continue to do the things they like doing, including driving and staying warm in the winter, but do those things more efficiently. An economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, Stanford points out that while the use of motor vehicles is a major source of GHG emissions, the manufacture of cars is not. While figuring out how to reduce auto emissions will be important to Canada’s Kyoto strategy, there must be other culprits than SUV drivers. "Kyoto-An Unlevel Playing Field?" by André Plourde [summary not available] "Charlottetown 10 Years On: From Activism to Incrementalism" by Joe Clark Joe Clark served as Canada’s foreign affairs minister for seven years, relinquishing a job he loved to become minister of constitutional affairs in 1991. After laborious negotiations, the Charlottetown Accord was concluded in August 1992, before being rejected by the voters in the October 26 referendum. A decade later, Clark finds Canada’s public policy agenda much changed, from one of activism to one of incrementalism. Incrementalism and passivity, he concludes, do not contribute to the defining identity of the Canadian community. Another corrosive consequence of preferring the incremental to the bold, Clark suggests, is that voter participation is down, Western alienation is up, and public cynicism is high. "L'Entente de Charlottetown vue du Québec" by Claude Ryan The climate of improvisation and haste in which the Charlottetown Accord was drafted and then submitted for the approval of citizens had a lot to do with the failure of the 1992 Referendum. From a Quebec perspective, the accord also had serious flaws which played a decisive role in this province. In order to succeed, any new proposal for constitutional reform will have to openly recognise the linguistic duality of the country as well as the distinct character of Quebec, and reflect a clearer and more genuine political consensus than that on which the 1992 Accord was based. "Charlottetown: The Anatomy of Mega-Constitutional Politics" by Michael D. Behiels The Charlottetown Accord was so heavily burdened with competing interests that the odds of its rejection in the October 1992 referendum were extremely high. More controversially, Behiels contends that Charlottetown set the stage for the 1995 Quebec referendum, whose narrow victory for the federalist forces paradoxically provoked the Supreme Court reference of 1998 and later the Clarity Act, which have contributed to the slow and irreversible decline of the Quebec sovereignty movement. "Charlottetown and Aboriginal Rights: Delayed But Never Relinquished" by Matthew Coon Come Charlottetown constitutes from an Aboriginal perspective the all-time high point in Crown-Aboriginal relations. In 1992, Canadians and their governments began to behave as though they really wanted and intended to do the right thing: to make space and share the country—and to share power. Those hopes were delayed with the defeat of Charlottetown, but they have not been dashed. "A Mood of Confidence About Canada, But Not Its Political Leadership" by Andrew Parkin The mood of Canada at year’s end is one of confidence about the economy, support for Kyoto, an inclination to spend the surplus on social programs, with an expectation of new investments in health care. Canadians are also skeptical that federal and provincial governments can deliver, or get along in managing the federation. In this Portraits of Canada annual survey, the Centre for Research and Information on Canada and polling analyst Andrew Parkin look behind the numbers and assess the mood and mindset of Canada at the end of 2002. "Des balises pour l'identité : La convention internationale sur la diversité culturelle" by Georges Azzaria Cultural diversity protection reached a crucial stage last October with the approval of a project for an International Convention on Cultural Diversity. This convention project is innovative in that it provides for an institutional mechanism as well as a dispute settlement process. But its success will mainly depend on its real power of enforcement. Thus, the choice of UNESCO as the organization to which the project will be attached might prove to be a disappointment since under this umbrella, the instrument would not directly bind WTO members. Despite the mistrust aroused by the latter on matters of culture, and to the extent that states really want to give culture an autonomous status which will restore the balance with trade rules, the inclusion of a distinct accord to this effect, making it a basis for interpreting the disputes submitted to the WTO, might prove to be essential. "The Auto Pact: Forerunner of Free Trade" by Michael Hart (book excerpt) [summary not available] Book Review: Daniel Schwanen reviews A Trading Nation by Michael Hart [summary not available] Book Review: James Allan Evans reviews two books on immigration in Canada [summary not available] "Is CBC Really Biased?" by Tiziana Carafa [summary not available] "Living with the Euro" by William Watson [summary not available] |
