"Canada Well-Being Measurement Act"

Launch, 2001

To the Editor:

Goals are the seeds from which our future grows.

What is planted in Canada's garden? Officially we seek nothing more than to perpetually expand the amount of money being spent - the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It doesn't matter if the money is spent on replacing stolen goods and pollution related illness or if it is spent on food and education.

There is a more elegant vision in the land, and I want your readers to know about it. We are working to create an institution which will monitor the social, economic and environmental well-being of the people, communities and ecosystems in Canada.

In every corner of the country, there are people looking into problems and experimenting with solutions. The "Canada Well-Being Measurement Act" (CWBMA) is a proposal being developed cooperatively in the House of Commons to tap into these concerns and visions. It would establish a set of measures to track improvement or loss of ground in related matters. The measures would then be regularly reported through the Auditor General's Office.

What we count and what we measure shows what we value. When we count only monetary transactions (GDP), environmental quality and social cohesion receive too little attention. When we legitimize other factors by measuring and reporting on them in our core measure of progress, they become visible. This visibility, in turn, enables us to see how policies and actions affect the measures, and encourages decision makers to pay attention to them.

The CWBMA is a part of what we call the 7th Generation Initiative. The intent is to encourage long term thinking in the decision making process. The present method of making decisions primarily on the information provided by GDP is like driving a bus using only the speedometer. With eyes fixed on the one meter, we have caused serious damage to the environment and the integrity of communities. We are in need of additional instruments on the dashboard. Instruments which measure natural resource stocks, pollution levels, biodiversity, the durability of goods, employment satisfaction, income distribution, the quality of education and health care, stress, leisure time, unpaid work, crime and other factors of consequence. With more instruments and a clear windshield through which to keep looking out for new obstacles, we could more effectively steer our way toward a sustainable future.

We would like to hear from people who have interests or concerns about the goals of society. Ask us for a background information packet. If you would like, ask also for a copy of the "Discussion Kit" we have produced to encourage groups to talk about what they value and how related circumstances might be measured.

Joe Jordan MP
Leeds-Grenville

Requests for information can be sent, postage free, to Joe Jordan MP, Rm. 422, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6 or by email to the 7th Generation Initiative Coordinator, Mike Nickerson at: sustain5 [at ] web.ca
More details can be found at: http://www.cyberus.ca/choose.sustain/index3.html

Questions and comments are welcome.

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Last Update: February 7, 2001
Filename: http://www.SustainWellBeing.net/7GI/media/toeditor.shtml