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Question 7: Prosperity

How should Canada take advantage of its location in North America to increase prosperity while promoting our distinctive identity?

 

 
 
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Contributor:1864
Date: 2003-05-01 01:59:08
Answer:
Within the limits of the usual definitions of prosperity, North America does not need more prosperity. It needs more widespread participation in the prosperity that is already there. At the same time, we need to find ways to reduce North Americans' consumption of global resources to some sort of sustainable level. If we don't do this, there will likely be no prosperity for my grandchildren.

We should begin by redefining prosperity, by phasing out economic measures like GDP and speaking often and clearly about measurements of "well being" for individuals and for society at large.

We can take advantage of - or more, appropriately, accept the responsibility of - our location in North America by having clear priorities and policies and never apologizing for them to the US or anyone else, or compromising them or fudging them or minimizing them in our relations with other countries. The US often wants Canada "on-side" in order to get others "on-side". We should only be "on-side" when it is consistent with our principles and policies.
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