MP looks for better method
to measure Canada's success

Murray Hogben

BROCKVILLE - When he was campaigning last November for re-election as MP for Leeds-Grenville, Joe Jordan talked about an idea he was finally able to launch in Parliament last week: The Canada Well-being Measurement Act.

He argues that the Gross Domestic Product as a measurement of a country's well-being isn't necessarily accurate because it's only based on economic indicators and not social or environmental ones.

Jordan said the bill's origin stems from his experiences during the 1997 election campaign.

In the midst of eight all-candidates' debates, he and Green Party candidate, Peter Bevan-Baker, a Brockville dentist, discussed sustainable economy and how to get there.

Liberal Jordan said he didn't disagree with his Green Party opponent but he couldn't see "how do we get from A to B."

After he won the 1997 election, Jordan said, Bevan-Baker introduced him to Mike Nickerson of Merrickville, who had written a book on sustainability.

Nickerson and Jordan created a mechanism that would inform the public and be used for comparison purposes over a period of years.

ECONOMIC BIAS

"We're talking about expanding the traditional measures of wealth," Jordan said.

"There's a real bias toward economic measures - interest rates, [Gross National Product] and [Gross Domestic Product]. Those are important things, but they don't give us the whole picture.

"If governments are going to base their actions solely on economic measures," he said, "then we're making an assumption that there's an absolute direct correlation between those measures and the quality of life of Canadians - and I'm of the opinion that isn't the case."

While GNP and GDP may look good on paper and there has been great prosperity, there has also been a widening gap between the rich and poor in Canada, Jordan said.

Social and environmental indicators are largely not being incorporated into the decision makers' consciousness, he said.

The bill would require the government to report annually to Parliament on a series of indices that look at the sustainability of our economy, society and environment.

"Hopefully this will become an instrument that will really start to influence public policy," Jordan said.

His hopes for his bill, which has had first reading and went into a pool with others for possible further consideration, are based on a variety of political facts.

Finance Minister Paul Martin allocated money in his 2000 budget for such a process, starting with Dr. Stuart Smith, who is chairing a committee of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy to develop such indicators.

SOCIAL FACTORS

Jordan asks why the round table is only looking at the environment and the economy and not at social factors.

"Really, all the bill does," he said, "is it provides a framework for Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development to oversee the process. They'll keep the lists [of indicators] updated and make sure the rules are followed."

Also, Jordan said, there is a lot of work being done on the issue of sustainable development around the world.

His bill, which was introduced last week by Liberal Quebec MP Marlene Jennings because Jordan is a parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, was seconded by the new Lanark-Carleton Alliance MP, Scott Reid.

Jordan thinks the New Democrats and the Tories are also willing to support his bill getting a second reading.

"My effort all along had been that this was a non-partisan thing," Jordan said.

Jordan says he's convinced that the biggest challenges to be faced in the next 20 years are environmental ones. "The other thing I'm convinced of ... is that we can set rules for the marketplace that will improve the situation dramatically."

For example, in Germany, he said, there are regulations around "lifetime product stewardship" which means that some products must be taken back by the manufacturer if they break or become obsolete, instead of having them end up in a landfill.

BMW CARS

Also, he said, BMW cars are now made with 35 per cent recycled parts.

Instead of expecting businesses to develop a social conscience, Jordan said the government should put rules in place that would allow businesses to make "buckets of cash doing the proper things." --

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"The American Government has become a machine for the conversion of public assets into private profits, and a big machine for the conversion of private liabilities into public liabilities." Arjun Makhijan,
president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

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