To the Editor:
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was in Regina last week with a jam-packed agenda. The key event was a major economic speech before a big audience of the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce and Saskatchewan's Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs.
He also attended the Lieutenant-Governor's ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day, paid tribute to the fallen Mounties in New Brunswick, met with Mayor Mike Fougere and University President Vianne Timmons, spoke with representatives of Treaty Four First Nations, hosted a reception for the general public, and spent two energetic evenings at Regina's "Mosaic" multicultural festival.
Justin showed himself to be a knowledgeable, articulate, capable individual with the substance and stamina that leadership demands. He also demonstrated his amazing capacity - unique among all Party leaders - to engage and motivate people to become part of the "change for the better" that most Canadians so desperately want in public life. Like no one else, he can rally people!
In his speech about the economy, Justin melded the twin priorities of strong fiscal management and a prosperous middle-class. To have both, Canada needs an agenda for sustained and sustainable economic growth - which is what this country is not getting from the Harper Conservatives who are exclusively fixated on slashing the Government of Canada at the expense of everything else.
That's why veterans are being neglected, public infrastructure is in decline, retirement incomes are inadequate and insecure, a majority of middle-class families worry about the high cost of higher education and fear their kids may not do as well as their parents did.
Justin laid out five big economic priorities that a new Government of Canada will need to get right:
Investments in people - meaning better access to post-secondary education (universities, colleges, technical schools, apprenticeships, on-the-job up-skilling, etc.) and a new relationship around Aboriginal education. He also called for urgent corrections in the Temporary Foreign Workers Program which has run so badly amuck on the Conservatives' watch, and more emphasis on provincial Immigrant Nominee Programs which offer clear pathways to citizenship.
Foreign Direct Investment and Trade - the Harper government talks a lot about trade agreements, but they still don't have a single major deal actually done yet, and Canada's trade balance is mostly in deficit. Export trade is critical to a province like Saskatchewan. At the bottom-line, exporting sectors pay 50% higher wages than those that are not trade intensive.
Natural Resources and the Environment - Canada needs a smart "marriage" between the economy and the environment. Canadians don't want to be told they have to pick one or the other. They want both. Environmental integrity will be critical to building the consensus necessary for valuable development projects to succeed. Mr. Harper's total lack of environmental credibility has been a key factor in stalling the Keystone-XL pipeline.
Innovation - the Government of Canada must help build strong scientific platforms across the country, like the Synchrotron "light source" in Saskatchewan and the Petroleum Technology Research Centre in Regina. Such investments in homegrown "brainpower" are crucial to growth, competitiveness and productivity.
Public Infrastructure - Canada needs transformative federal leadership in building the infrastructure necessary to underpin a vibrant, national 21st century economy. It is foolish public policy to cut, stall and convolute federal support systems, like the "Building Canada Fund" which Mr. Harper has chopped this year by 87%. Federal infrastructure investments should be moving up, not down.
Justin's agenda is strong and substantive. So is his commitment to transparency, accountability and value-for-money in all federal operations, and his determination to keep above the slander in Conservative or NDP attack-ads. Canadians are increasingly thirsty for that kind of positive leadership.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
