A Great Opportunity

During the 1997 Canadian Federal Election, an unusual relationship formed between two candidates running in the riding of Leeds-Grenville in Eastern Ontario: Joe Jordan of the Liberal Party and Peter Bevan-Baker of the Green Party. Mr. Jordan found his own conviction, gained from years of development work in Ethiopia and newly independent Hungary, reflected in Dr. Bevan-Baker's appeal that we consider the long-term perspective when making decisions. Furthermore, Mr. Jordan detected that the audience also shared the concerns.

After taking his seat in the House of Commons, Mr. Jordan met with Dr. Bevan-Baker and the author of the present material to discuss how we might bring this long-term perspective into public use. Mr. Jordan committed to introducing a Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons to represent the integration of the long-term perspective into general accounting procedures; Dr. Bevan-Baker and the Sustainability Project agreed to collect material for the bill and devise a public outreach and education campaign to cultivate the political will needed for the bill to be taken seriously. The campaign is outlined in the accompanying paper 7th Generation Initiative.