VISION for a Canada Strong and Free
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VISION for a Canada Strong and Free Mike Harris & Preston Manning THE FRASER INSTITUTE 2007 Copyright ©2007 by The Fraser Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embod- ied in critical articles and reviews. The authors have worked independently and opinions expressed by them are, therefore, their own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the supporters, trustees, or staff of The Fraser Institute. The opinions expressed in this document do not necessary represent those of the Montreal Economic Institute or the members of its board of directors. This publication in no way implies that the Montreal Economic Institute or the members of its board of directors are in favour of, or oppose the passage of, any bill. Series editor: Fred McMahon Director of Publication Production: Kristin McCahon Coordination of French publication: Francis Dumouchel Design and typesetting: Lindsey Thomas Martin Cover design by Brian Creswick @ GoggleBox Editorial assistance provided by White Dog Creative Inc. Date of issue: November 2007 Printed and bound in Canada To order printed publications of The Fraser Institute, please contact the publications coordinator: e-mail: [email protected]; telephone: 604.688.0221 ext. 580 or, toll free, 1.800.665.3558 ext. 580; fax: 604.688.8539; mail: The Fraser Institute, Fourth Floor, 1770 Burrard Street, Vancouver, Brit- ish Columbia, V6J 3G7 Canada. For media enquiries, please contact our Communications Department: e-mail: communications@ fraserinstitute.ca; telephone: 604.714.4582. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Harris, Mike, 1945- Vision for a Canada strong and free / Mike Harris & Preston Manning. Co-published by Institut économique de Montréal. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978–0–88975 –223–8 1. Canada--Politics and government--21st century. 2. Canada--Economic policy--21st century. 3. Canada--Social policy. 4. Democracy--Canada. I. Manning, Preston, 1942- II. Fraser Institute (Vancouver, B.C.) III. Institut économique de Montréal IV. Title. JL65.H374 2007 320.60971'09051 C2007-906116-8 contents Mike Harris / v Preston Manning / vi Acknowledgments / vii Foreword / ix Summary of Recommendations / 1 Introduction: Keeping Canada’s Promise / 19 caring for canadians: Quality of life / 33 1 Educating Future Generations / 35 2 Lending a Helping Hand / 47 Monograph 1 / Social Entrepreneurs: The Alternative to Government Services / 63 3 The World’s Best Health Care / 67 Monograph 2 / An Ageing Population: The Impact on Social Programs / 87 4 Supporting Parents and Children / 91 a More dynaMic econoMy: unleashing ProsPerity / 105 5 Free to Prosper / 107 6 A More Modest State / 115 7 “Right-Sizing” Government / 125 Monograph 3 / Doing More: Improving Canada’s Productivity / 139 vision for a canada strong and free iii iv 8 The High Price of Red Tape / 143 Monograph 4 / The Power of Choice: Let the Market Establish Energy Prices / 153 9 Free Trade at Home / 157 Monograph 5 / The Environment: Nature and the Market Must Meet / 167 rebalanced and revitalized: resPonsive deMocracy / 173 10 Restoring Transparency and Accountability / 175 11 A Menu of Democratic Reforms / 193 Monograph 6 / Aboriginal Governance: When All Else Fails, Try a Little Freedom / 217 12 Rebalancing the Federation / 221 Monograph 7 / Have-not Provinces: Stop “Helping” Already! / 241 a Model to the World: international leadership / 247 13 Liberalizing International Trade / 251 14 The Indispensable Partner / 273 15 Reforming Canadian Foreign Aid / 293 conclusion: looking ahead / 329 References / 331 vision for a canada strong and free Mike harris Michael D. Harris, ICD.D, was born in Toronto in 1945, and was raised in Cal- lander and North Bay, Ontario. Prior to his election to the Ontario Legisla- ture in 1981, Mike Harris was a schoolteacher, a School Board Trustee and Chair, and an entrepreneur in the Nipissing area. On June 8, 1995, Mike Harris became the twenty-second Premier of Ontario following a landslide election victory. In 1999, he was re-elected, making him the first Ontario Premier in over 30 years to form a second consecutive majority government. After leaving office in April 2002, Mr. Harris joined the law firm of Good- mans LLP as a Senior Business Advisor, and acts as a consultant to various Canadian companies. Mr. Harris serves as a Director on several corporate Boards including Magna International Inc., Canaccord Capital Inc., and First- Service Corporation. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT and of the Board for EnGlobe Corp. He is also a Director on the Boards of the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation and the Mount Royal College Foundation. Mr. Harris also serves on a number of corporate Advisory Boards for vari- ous companies, and is President of his own consulting firm, Steane Consulting Ltd. As well, he is a Senior Fellow with the Fraser Institute, a leading Canadian economic, social research, and education organization. vision for a canada strong and free v Preston Manning Preston Manning served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to 2001. He founded two new political parties—the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance—both of which became the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament. Mr. Manning served as Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2000 and was also his party’s critic for Science and Technology. Since retirement from Parliament in 2002, Mr. Manning has released a book entitled Think Big (McClelland & Stewart) describing his use of the tools and institutions of democracy to change Canada’s national agenda. He has also served as a Senior Fellow of the Canada West Foundation and as a Dis- tinguished Visitor at the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto. He is currently a Senior Fellow of The Fraser Institute and President of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy. Mr. Manning continues to write, speak, and teach on such subjects as the revitalization of democracy in the Western world, relations between Canada and the United States, strengthening relations between the scientific and political communities, the development of North American transportation infrastruc- ture, the revitalization of Canadian federalism, the regulation of the genetic revolution, and the management of the interface between faith and politics. vi vision for a canada strong and free acknoWledgMents The Canada Strong and Free series is the work of many minds and hands, and we therefore have a number of people to thank. Former Fraser Institute Execu- tive Director, Michael Walker, and the current Executive Director, Mark Mul- lins, were instrumental in initiating this project and guiding it. Fred McMahon, Director for the Centre for Globalization Studies at The Fraser Institute once again did a superb job as series editor. Francis Dumouchel of the Montreal Eco- nomic Institute generously lent us his considerable expertise and directed the translation in French. We would also like to thank the President of the Mon- treal Economic Institute, Paul Daniel Muller, and Martin Masse, who directed the translation of earlier volumes. This volume summarizes the work of the previous volumes in the series and also contains much new material. For help with the new material, we thank the following Fraser Institute staff: Gerry Angevine, Senior Economist, Energy Studies; Jason Clemens, Director of Research Quality and Resident Scholar in Fiscal Studies; Senior Fellow Gordon Gibson; Heather Holden, Director of the Risk, Regulation, and Environmental Centre; Amela Karabegović, Associate Director of the Centre for Globalization Studies; Senior Fellow Rainer Knopff; Sylvia LeRoy, Senior Policy Analyst; Milagros Palacios, Senior Research Econo- mist; and Niels Veldhuis, Director of Fiscal Studies. Both Jean Marie Clemenger, Preston Manning’s secretary and researcher, and Elaine Pritchard, Mike Harris’s assistant, did exemplary work in keeping us on track. Jean Marie was especially helpful in editing innumerable rough drafts. Kristin McCahon, Director of Publication Production, skillfully steered the book through production. Dean Pelkey and Leah Costello, both of The Fraser Institute, and Phil von Finckenstein have contributed much to our work by managing communications and arranging CSF-related events. White Dog Creative Inc. provided valuable editorial assistance. vision for a canada strong and free vii viii For policy work on our earlier volumes, we would also like to thank the fol- lowing Fraser Institute staff: Nadeem Esmail, Director, Health System Perfor- mance Studies; Claudia R. Hepburn, Director, Education Policy; Senior Fellow Rainer Knopff; Senior Fellow Robert Knox; former intern Kate Mullock; and Brett Skinner, Director, Health and Pharmaceutical Policy Research and Direc- tor, Insurance Policy Research. University of Calgary Professor Barry Cooper provided important material on rebalancing Canada’s democracy. André Tur- cotte’s polling provided valuable information for our first volume. We also thank Nicholas Gafuik of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy for his work on democratic reform, Mary Manning for her work on the reform of foreign aid, and Michael Hart, Simon Reisman Professor of Trade Policy at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. Of course, we take full responsibility for the ideas and interpretations pre- sented here. While