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“Think big. Shape the world”

VERBATIM Michael Ignatieff

W hat started as a conferencebecame a community —one room in Montreal,networked with more than 70 othergatherings across Canada, and 25,000individuals. Today’s technology wasdeployed to enable a truly public dia-logue about public policy. “Canada at150: Rising to the Challenge” was aconversation about Canada’s futureamong experts and engaged citizens.The result was a clearer view about notjust what we’d like to do as a country,not just about what we could do, butabove all what we must do.

We must act on some fundamen-tal challenges that were raised at thebeginning of the weekend: an agingpopulation, slower economic growth,the rising cost of caring for those inneed. For example, Rick Miner,President Emeritus of Seneca College,outlined the challenge we have aheadof us as a result of inadequate skillstraining and the aging population: alabour market of jobs without peopleand people without jobs. This is a greatcountry with an extraordinary future,but unless we face up to challengessuch as this, and address them honest-ly, we shouldn’t be in politics.

Two of our generation’s leadingeconomists, Pierre Fortin and DavidDodge, explained the future in com-pelling terms — the aging population,sluggish productivity, spiralling costs

of essential social services. And it isn’ta weather forecast. This is not some-thing that might happen. Ifunchecked, these dynamics will erodeour standard of living.

O ver the weekend we must haveheard it 20 times. On so many ofthe great challenges facing our coun-try, we need a national strategy, a pan-Canadian strategy. Of course,respecting the jurisdictions of eachprovince, but we must act together as acountry. Not just provinces and terri-tories working separately. It means wehave to be a country with all the play-ers at the table taking action, withclearly defined responsibilities.

I heard very clearly that we need anational strategy for knowledge andinnovation.

This means a pan-Canadian learn-ing plan, because we cannot face thefuture without one. It’s essential, notmerely something we would like to do.What does that mean? It does meanearly learning and child care for everyCanadian family that wants it. It hasto mean closing the gap betweenAboriginal and non-Aboriginal educa-tional attainment. It has to mean mak-ing illiteracy a national priority, for allorders of government, and for every-one in the system who teaches andlearns. It has to mean better languagetraining for immigrant families that

come to this country. And we have tokeep higher education affordable forCanadian families — so that we cankeep a simple promise. A promisethat’s been part of my political lifesince I entered politics: If you get thegrades, you get to go.

And to pick up a theme that for-mer UBC president Martha Piper andDominic Barton, head of McKinsey andCompany, touched on: there’s an inter-national dimension to a learning strat-egy. We can export educational servicesto the developing world. There are fivemillion people in Asia who we could beteaching, and leveraging the tremen-dous reputation we have in education.

A second thing we heard clearlywas that we have to address the impli-cations of our rapidly aging population.

We have costs that are increasingevery year in health care, and we havefamilies who have been crushed by theweight of taking care of their childrenand of elderly relatives. That is what ismeant by the sandwich generation. Inmy vision of government, familieshave responsibilities, yes, but theyneed a caring government that standswith them, shoulder to shoulder.

Sherri Torjman from the CaledonInstitute brought us face to face withsome of the deficiencies of our socialcare system. If we’re going to help fam-ilies, we must try to ensure that we’renot shoving the whole burden of care

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff listened to three days of presentations to the“Canada at 150” conference in Montreal. At the conclusion of this importantthinkers’ conference, he summed up what he had heard.

Le chef libéral Michael Ignatieff a attentivement suivi les présentations faites aucours des trois jours de la conférence « Les 150 ans du Canada », qui a eu lieu àMontréal en avril dernier. Il propose une synthèse de ce qu’il a entendu à l’issuede cet important congrès de réflexion.

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VERBATIM“Think big. Shape the world”

onto hospitals and nursing homes,because that’s the most expensive wayto do it.

W e want to do something verydifferent. We want to invest inhomecare, giving families resources tocare for those they love at home.We’ve got a program that allows onlysix weeks of compassionate leavethrough Employment Insurance. Sixweeks. Recently, I met a woman who

explained to me that she has abeloved husband dying of LouGehrig’s disease. As she cares for theman she loves until the day he dies,all she gets is six weeks of compas-sionate leave. I want to help thatwoman and so does my party.

The burden of care on the sand-wich generation is a crushing problemfor Canadian families and for theCanadian economy. You can’t be a pro-ductive member of the workforce whenyou’re completely weighed down bythe burden of care at home. We have tounderstand the interconnectionbetween compassion andcare and productivity. This ishow we get a grip on our fis-cal future and our moralfuture.

We repeatedly heard atthe conference that anounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure, andnowhere is this truer thanin health care. As Dr. Marie-FranceRaynault from the Université deMontréal shared with us, there is a rolefor the federal government in healthpromotion. In the fight against obesi-ty, in the fight against diabetes, weneed a national strategy of preventivehealth care, with an active role for thefederal government, working with the

provinces. I see no way to contain ris-ing health care costs without such astrategy.

A third priority is rebuildingCanada’s place in the world.I was struck by a moment during a

panel when Nicholas Parker, co-founder of the Cleantech Group, saidthat at Copenhagen the message fromthe international community was:“Canada, please leave the room so we

can get something done.” Neverbefore. And, I say, never again.

There’s another part of theCopenhagen story. We had Canadianstalking across, against, apart from eachother. It is so easy, six months, ninemonths before, for a prime minister topick up the phone and say: we’re goingto a global conference. The reputation ofour country is on the line. Let’s try andwork out some kind of common posi-tion. I want all the actors there. I wantcivil society there. I want us all there. Butfor heaven’s sake let’s speak with not justone voice, but a common voice.

This is crucial to the story ofCanada’s international prestige over-seas. We need to welcome the fact thatso many Canadians speak for us in theworld. I’m proud of the young peoplewe met during the Canadians Makinga Difference in the World panel. I’mproud of the people who are buildingwells in Africa. I want us to be, as I’ve

said for a year and a half, the mostinternational society in the world. I’mproud I was out there in the world forthe years that I was. I’m deeply proudof it. I want more of us to be doing it.

We had several of the great figuresof Canadian foreign policy with us atthe conference in Montreal. We havereason to feel a little nostalgia for whatBob Fowler, Derek Burney and JeremyKinsman achieved. They were part of aworld that actually believed that

Canada should have a for-eign policy. That actuallybelieved if you’re going tohave a foreign policy,you’ve got to invest indiplomats, trade commis-sioners, consular officers.You’ve got to invest in thepeople who carry the privi-

lege, the honour of representing ourcountry in Shanghai, or in Lagos, or inSouth Africa. And we’ve let this shriveland we‘ve this whither. We must makean investment in the people whospeak for Canada overseas.

That is crucial to the future. InMontreal, these statesmen and otherssaid something with one voice: Thinkbig. Shape the world. Don’t allow theworld to shape you. Don’t wait for theUnited States to shape our relation-ship. Shape that relationship.

We are the biggest supplier of ener-gy to the United States, and yet we have

no coherent view of how to manage thatrelationship. We have provinces pursu-ing various energy deals, working to getinto the American markets. No one istalking about federal domination in thisarea — Ottawa doesn’t have the jurisdic-tion. But surely we can look at energy —not as a lever — but as a basis for a morestrategic partnership through a coherent

We have costs increasing every year in health care, and we havefamilies who have been crushed by the weight of taking care oftheir children and of elderly relatives. That is what is meant bythe sandwich generation. In my vision of government, familieshave responsibilities, yes, but they need a caring governmentthat stands with them, shoulder to shoulder.

On so many of the great challenges facing our country, weneed a national strategy, a pan-Canadian strategy. Of course,respecting the jurisdictions of each province, but we must acttogether as a country. Not just provinces and territoriesworking separately. It means we have to be a country with allthe players at the table taking action, with clearly definedresponsibilities.

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VERBATIMMichael Ignatieff

Canadian approach. We also have towork together toward the necessary pub-lic and private investments in cleanenergy, renewable energy and energyefficiency. Here’s where we need a net-work of responsibility. Our goal shouldbe to end up being something very sim-ple: the most energy efficient society onthe planet. It’s where tomorrow’s pro-ductivity advantage lies, and everyoneknows it.

Now I just want to reiterate — sothat I’m clear. I don’t recall oneinstance when a presenter said, here’sthe problem, and the solution is a bigexpensive federal program. One of themost useful things we did was to beginto rethink the role of government. How

many times did we hear the word “net-work”? Creating networks of responsi-bility. Linking players together. Electedofficials, the provinces and the federallevel, the municipalities, social andnonprofit actors and, of course, the pri-vate sector.

This network concept of how wemust govern ourselves — we need tothink it through further and give itteeth. This is not an abstraction. We canfeel this is how we actually live andwork today. We need to make it a reali-ty, a doctrine of the Liberal Party. We’renot a big government party. We’re theparty of the network. The office ofprime minister should not be simplyabout control. Real leadership is not

about top-down command and control.That’s not how the world works today.A prime minister should not be there todominate, to centralize, to steamroller.Those days are over. The prime minis-ter’s most important role is to unifyCanadians in the common purposes ofour nation. To confront the real prob-lems. To articulate what results ourcountry must achieve, make strategicchoices, and identify the key playersand partners to solve those problems.

Michael Ignatieff is Leader of theOpposition and Leader of the LiberalParty of Canada. Excerpted from hisclosing address to the “Canada at 150”conference in Montreal, March 28, 2010.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff delivers the closing keynote to his party’s “Canada at 150” conference in Montreal. “Think big,” he said.“Shape the world.”

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