AS WRITTEN

CANADA
Statement by the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy,
Minister for Human Resources Development
to the
World Summit for Social Development
Copenhagen, Denmark
March 6-12, 1995


 Chairman, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:

 I am pleased to be able to join you during this historic summit. This 
summit would not be possible without the generosity and hospitality of our 
Danish hosts. And it would not have its fine outcome documents without the 
tireless efforts of the UN Secretariat, with the wise guidance of Under-
Secretary General Desai and the chair of the Main Committee, Ambassador 
Somavia.

 Community has been defined as the place where people prevail. We have come 
together this week as an international community to find ways that people 
can prevail at a time of profound transformation in the way people work and 
live. The impact of the new economy on people's lives is profound and 
farreaching.

 It is an economy in which capital moves around the world in microseconds, 
often at the behest of pre-programmed computers. It is one in which 
technology is replacing people and information is replacing goods and 
services as the engine of wealth. It is one in which nations and their 
governments struggle to keep up with the demands of international capital 
markets and bond dealers. This level of technological sophistication must 
be contrasted with the fact that over one half of the world's population 
have never  even used a telephone. 

 In every country, and amongst all people, this new economy has created 
insecurities never before experienced. The nature of this insecurity was 
eloquently captured in a recent article which stated:

 "The most basic concerns are about working and making a living, about the 
security of person and property, about the stability in public and private 
life that allows one to plan for the day after tomorrow and not just from 
day to day."

 Since the end of the Cold War, the international community has recognized 
that security is no longer defined in terms of arms and military power. 
Global security has evolved to include the security of people, their right 
to live in a clean and safe environment, and the opportunity to build a 
sustainable livelihood for themselves, their families and their 
communities.

 We are gathered here this week as partners: governments, the private, 
public and voluntary sectors, to consider the impact of the new economy on 
real human lives. Our task is to explore how we may together reform, 
restructure and rebuild the communities in which we live. It is clear that 
with a new global economy, the only way we will address the human factor is 
through multilateral, multicultural, multidimensional solutions.

 The Human Deficit: Unemployment and Poverty

 The changing economy has exacerbated three of the greatest social ills of 
our time: unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. It is no coincidence 
that these are the three major challenges that this Summit seeks to 
address. Together they constitute the human deficit we must tackle with the 
same verve and determination that many of us have applied to the fiscal 
deficit.

 In truth, they are two sides of the same coin. Fiscal deficits and debt 
problems must be addressed if we are to provide for the long-term stability 
of our mutual economies. But any advances on the economic side will be in 
vain, if we do not simultaneously address the human deficit. In short, 
social and economic development must go hand-in-hand. Addressing either in 
isolation is doomed to failure.

 In Canada, last week, we began to confront the problem of our fiscal 
deficit through the introduction of tough targets in our new budget. At the 
same time, we have begun a fundamental and far-reaching restructuring of 
our social programs, to ensure that they better meet the needs of 
Canadians. The point, in other words, is not simply how much money we spend 
on our programs, but how that money is spent. As the UNDP's 1994 Human 
Development Report states:

 It is not the level of income alone that matters - it is also the use that 
is made of this income.

 Addressing the Human Deficit: Some Possible Solutions

 I would like to focus, for a few minutes, on how Canada is trying to 
tackle its own human deficit. At the heart of our efforts to meet human 
needs within the new economy is a belief in the fundamental dignity of 
work. Thus, the reform of our social programs has one paramount objective: 
to get people back into the labour market. Five key themes emerge:

 1. Moving from Income Support Alone to Active Employment Measures

 While we must continue to provide a level of income support for the 
unemployed, increasingly we need to move our programs away from simple 
income support to active measures which get people back to work.

 In some cases, this means removing obstacles. For example, the provision 
of affordable childcare, so single-parents - mainly women - may take up a 
job outside the home. In other cases, it is the provision of a bridge, such 
as

 a working income supplement, to get people back into the labour force. In 
other instances, young people in our Youth Service Corps are working on 
projects to better the environment, teach literacy, contribute to their 
community in a multitude of ways.

 2. The Role of Civil Society in Solving the Human Deficit

 As technology displaces vast numbers of workers in the government, service 
and manufacturing sectors, the question we repeatedly face is: 'Where are 
the new jobs?'.

 One possible answer lies in civil society, or what might be called the 
third sector. There is, in all of our communities, no shortage of work that 
could be done. At the same time, there are large numbers of unemployed 
people who are searching for meaningful employment.

 The third sector is one key to bringing them together. We must redefine 
what we mean by work, and then find innovative ways of rewarding workers in 
this new field of employment by paying them a social wage. We must look at 
new forms of work distribution, work sharing and community 
entrepreneurship.

 3. New Ways of Governing - Empowering Communities and Individuals

 This puts a premium on re-defining the role of government and its 
relationship to its citizens. In the new economy where technology has put 
increasing power into the hands of the individual, it is clear that old 
top-down central bureaucratic modes of government will no longer work.

In the broadest possible sense we must ensure that public money is used to 
"feed people and not bureaucracies". At all levels of government, we must 
target assistance to those in need as directly as possible, and let them 
choose their own path to employment.

 At the heart of our reforms to Canada's social programs will be a 
fundamental rethinking and restructuring of our system, to ensure that 
greater power is given to local communities and individuals. This will be 
done by shifting both resources and decision-making authority to those 
closest to the people being served by social programs. Already this has 
started: As a case in point, my own community of Winnipeg boasts a single-
parents' resource centre run by and for single parents.

 4. The Information-Based Economy: Ensuring All Share in the New Wealth

 We also must look seriously at the issue of who benefits from the wealth 
generated by the new economy. There is a sea-change occurring in the 
underlying basis of Canada's economy and culture. Technology, in the form 
of fibre optic cables, networks of computer terminals and increasingly 
inter-active television screens, has created an ever-smaller world. An army 
of people are online, engaged in every facet of political, social and 
economic life.

 In Canada and around the globe, technology affords enormous advantage to 
those who ride its wave. Currently, the top 30 per cent of workers in 
industrialized countries represent "the new technological aristocracy". The 
remaining 70 per cent, as Abe Rosenthal described them recently in a New 
York Times column, are "the foundering, searching, angry, anxious people."

 Somehow we must ensure that the opportunities offered and wealth created 
by the new information technologies are shared by all. Tax systems must be 
brought up-to-date with the new economy. An examination of innovative 
measures such as the Tobin Tax is required.

 5. Tackling the Human Deficit: The International Dimension

 Beyond these national considerations is the global dimension. 
Increasingly, all countries are dependent on each other for the well-being 
of their people. Too often the best efforts of a nation state one day are 
wiped out by movements of capital in the international market the next.

 Development cooperation is a crucial element in international social 
development. Our ODA programs need to meet two key objectives: focussing 
our resources on reducing poverty and ensuring that available ODA dollars 
reach people directly.

 Canada is a strong supporter of the 20/20 proposal. In fact, as a result 
of our recent review of foreign policy, we have committed to reaching the 
target of 25% of ODA for basic human needs.

 In addition, we must look again at a fundamental reform of the 
international financial regime. I am pleased to say today that the Prime 
Minister of Canada, who will be hosting the G-7 meeting in Halifax in June, 
has put at the top of his agenda a review of the international financial 
institutions and currency markets to ensure that we have some stability in 
the system and can protect countries from the types of sudden economic 
shocks that we have recently witnessed.

 It is clear that the solution to these problems can only occur at an 
international level. We hope that ideas discussed in Halifax will provide a 
way forward for all countries to meet their economic and social agendas.

 This conference, in combination with the UN conferences on children, the 
environment and development, human rights, population and development, and 
the upcoming conference on women, are shaping a very important dialogue on 
the role of the UN.

 As it celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, it is timely that we 
should explore the role of the UN. It is perhaps time, now that the Cold 
War is behind us, that we focus this multilateral forum on the security of 
the individual, as much as the nation-state.

 Conclusion

 In conclusion, the new economy has created the human deficit of 
unemployment and poverty. We are here to address that deficit. If we can 
ensure the long-term stability of our economies through sound financial 
planning, and couple that with a government agenda that puts human concerns 
at the forefront of public policies, we will have moved a long way towards 
meeting the needs of the new economy and providing a new sense of security 
for our citizens.

 Ultimately, many of these problems will only be solved through 
multilateral cooperation. I have heard those who say it is impossible for 
such cooperation to occur. The sceptics doubt the level of political will.

 Let me tell them of a young woman I met recently who went back to school 
and was taking a basic literacy course. After weeks of discouragement, she 
found herself one day--for the first time--able to help her seven year-old 
daughter with her homework.

 She said it made her believe that you should never be frightened to reach 
for the moon. Even if you miss, she said, you will be amongst the stars.

 Thank you Mr. Chairman.