Canadian social psychologist Jamie Gruman is proposing a new way of achieving nirvana: Do nothing.

Instead, live in the moment and embrace the “serene and contented acceptance of life as it is, with no ambitions of acquisition, accomplishment or progress toward goals,” said Gruman, co-founder of the newly created Canadian Positive Psychology Association, a network of scholars and academics studying human well-being and happiness.

Psychology has long focused on our inner torment: understanding why people get depressed or anxious, and how to alleviate it. The emphasis has been on “disorders,” “deficits,” “neuroses” and the need for “therapy.”

…the notion of a healthy national psyche is being embraced more openly by economists, politicians and political scientists around the globe, including in Canada, where, for example, Green Party leader Elizabeth May recently introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons meant to develop a set of indicators to measure “the real health and well-being of people.” A United Nations expert panel earlier this year called for nations around the globe to track the happiness of their people, arguing that economic wealth doesn’t equal psychological health.

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Re ‘Wrong by any measure,’ John Robson, June 25.

John Robson seems to think my private member’s bill for a Genuine Progress Index is something I invented. In fact, the growing call for more meaningful indices of progress has been championed by Nobel Prize winners in economics Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen.

Their report, originally commissioned by the former Conservative government of France, has now been supported by the OECD.

Contrary to the impression created by your columnist, the idea is not fanciful, nor designed to measure happiness. It is designed to avoid the mistake of failing to measure natural capital, such that the last cod harvested off Newfoundland and Labrador in 1993 registered as positive to the GDP — even as 30,000 people were thrown out of work and the fishery was shut down.

Elizabeth May
Green Party Leader

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The debate at Third Reading continued to reveal that Conservative Members of Parliament had no grasp of the act, so as a last attempt to shake them into integrity, I challenged all Conservatives to a small quiz to test their knowledge of the act — open-book, 15 minutes long, and multiple choice. I offered a tree planting ceremony with them in their riding to anyone who passed.

Sadly, none of them showed up.  The law of averages suggests that at least one MP would give it a shot.  The failure of even one Conservative MP to show up persuades me that they were ordered by the Prime Minister’s Office to stay away.  One Independent MP, former NDP MP, Bruce Hyer took the test and got 100%.  (He was quite relieved.).

Stephen Harper’s legislative strategy can be described as “might makes right.”  It was a foregone conclusion that if the Prime Minister maintained maximum pressure on his MPs and rejected any possible compromise, the bill would be passed.  Introduced for First Reading on April 26, moving like a freight train through hearings before the Finance Committee and its sub-committees, it went to Report Stage without so much as a semi-colon removed.  And then unchanged through Report Stage.   It goes against every aspect of  Parliamentary democracy that even helpful amendments must be crushed.  The process is no longer about public policy or good legislation.  It is all a war. Stephen Harper clearly believes that allowing MPs to improve legislation is a sign of weakness.

While Mr. Harper won this battle, it was a Pyrrhic victory. All major national media, even Canada’s most conservative paper, the National Post, has condemned the omnibus approach as illegitimate:

…the contempt that the Tories have shown for the democratic process is unacceptable, and inexplicable. Such a hardball tactic might have been justifiable when the Conservatives held only a minority, but now, it seems simply like a bad habit the Conservatives are in need of shaking.

Perhaps they will. As was reported in last Friday’s National Post, there are reports that Conservative insiders are as unhappy with how the government has behaved as is the opposition, and rumours that the Tories are facing a grassroots backlash. There is reportedly concern that such tactics will ultimately damage the Conservative brand, alienating voters well ahead of the next election. (National Post editorial, June 17, 2012)

 The unhappy backbenchers showed more signs of the strain than has occurred to date in this government.  Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has promised a second omnibus budget bill for the fall.

In some good news, I tabled two private members bills just before adjournment. On June 19, I tabled  A Genuine Progress Indicators Measurement Act and on the very last day of the session, June 21, my bill to create a National Lyme Disease Strategy got First Reading.

In putting forward the bill for Genuine Progress Indicators, I read into the record the following from the late Senator Bobby Kennedy, from 1968:

“Too much and too long, we have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things….The (GDP) counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

The Genuine Progress Indicator Measurement Act, Bill C-436, will attempt to measure those things that make life worthwhile. It will require Parliament to determine a set of meaningful indicators of natural capital and human well-being.  These measurements will then form the basis of an annual report from the Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development, within the office of the Auditor General.

Which has a certain irony as I witness a Prime Minister determined to undermine all those critical elements of our legislation and regulations that ensure healthy ecosystems, while removing statistical measurements, eliminating scientific monitoring and silencing critics.

As Canada marches backward, we desperately need to assess the cost.  We need to know how to chart a course to genuine progress.

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This enactment requires the Standing Committee established by the House of Commons to consider matters related to the environment and sustainable development to study the development and publication of a set of indicators to measure the well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada and make its recommendations to the House.

Preamble

Whereas promoting the well-being of Canadians is of the first importance in the work of Parliament;

Whereas the citizens of Canada, including members of Parliament, are better able to promote and enhance the well-being of the nation if they are well informed about the state of well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada;

And whereas such information would provide a meaningful understanding of genuine progress; Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short Title

1. This Act may be cited as the Canada Genuine Progress Measurement Act.

Interpretation

Definitions

2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.

“Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development appointed under subsection 15.1(1) of the Auditor General Act.

“Standing Committee” means the standing committee established by the House of Commons to consider matters related to the environment and sustainable development.

Study of Indicators

Committee study and recommendations

3. (1) The Standing Committee must carry out a study on a set of indicators of the economic, social and environmental well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada and, on the basis of that study, must make recommendations respecting

(a) the definition, development and periodic publication of the set of indicators;

(b) the broad societal values on which the set of indicators should be based;

(c) the role that the Commissioner should play in the development and publication of those indicators;

(d) the role that the Government of Canada, and particularly Statistics Canada, should play in the development and publication of those indicators;

(e) whether an advisory committee consisting of members of the public, including persons with expertise in economic, social, environmental and statistical matters, should be created to advise, on a continuing basis, on the development, calculation and publication of the set of indicators, and how such an advisory committee should function;

(f) whether further legislation is advisable to govern the development and publication of those indicators; and

(g) other aspects of the definition, development and publication of those indicators.

Committee process

(2) The Standing Committee, as a part of its considerations with respect to paragraphs 1(a) and (b), must

(a) receive input from the public through written submissions and public hearings; and

(b) seek information and advice from individ­uals and organizations in Canada and other nations, and from international agencies, that have expertise in the measurement of the well-being of people, communities and ecosystems.

Specific indicators and composite indices

(3) The set of indicators must include indicators that are specific to single aspects of well-being and one or more composite indices calculated from a number of the specific indicators.

Publication

(4) The set of indicators must be

(a) published annually in the Canada Ga- zette and in at least one daily newspaper in each official language, subject to any requirement in the report of the Standing Committee as adopted that they be published more frequently; and

(b) made available to the public, in both physical and electronic form, in the manner determined by the management committee established under subsection 4(1).

Report

(5) The Standing Committee must report to the House of Commons its recommendations on the matters set out in paragraphs (1)(c) to (g) no later than the third day on which the House sits following the expiry of twelve months after the coming into force of this Act.

Management committee

4. (1) If the report of the Standing Committee as presented by the Committee or as amended by the House of Commons is adopted by the House, the Chief Statistician of Canada and the Commissioner must, subject to the recommendations in the report as adopted, establish a management committee consisting of the Chief Statistician of Canada and the Commissioner and such other members as they jointly appoint. Function of management committee

(2) The management committee must direct the development and publication of the set of indicators subject to the recommendations in the report as adopted.

Interim partial publication

5. (1) The specific indicators and composite indices referred to in subsection 3(3) must be published twice by Statistics Canada, namely one year and two years after the date of the adoption of the report. Publication of results of application

(2) The results of the application of the set of indicators must be published in full, subject to the recommendations in the report as adopted, by Statistics Canada no later than three years after the date of the adoption of the report.

Annual report by Commissioner

6. Within 90 days of the first publication of the results referred to in subsection 5(2) and every year thereafter, the Commissioner must prepare and submit to the House of Commons an annual report analysing and evaluating, on the basis of those results, the current well-being of the people, communities and ecosystems in Canada.

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She said: Mr. Speaker, I rise with great pleasure today to introduce a bill that had come before this House in previous incarnations by previous members of Parliament. I have updated it. It is looking to provide indicators of the measurements that really matter.

There has been a lot of work done on the issue of genuine progress indicators in contradistinction to simply measuring the health of our society through the gross domestic product and other indicators which are simply measurements of the exchange of cash in transactions.

I draw particular attention to the recent work that was performed by Professor Joseph Stiglitz, in conjunction with Professor Amartya Sen and Professor Fitoussi. It was done at the behest of the French government, but has now picked up general support through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

I would like not to use my own words, but to briefly quote the late Senator Robert Kennedy, who said just weeks before his death in 1968:

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product…counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts [the] rifle and [the] knife, and television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. 

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry…the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning….

In fact, Senator Kennedy concluded:

–it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Press Release: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/news/publications/press-releases/2012/06/19/may-tables-bill-c-436-the-canada-genuine-progress-measurement-act/]

[Private Members Bill: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/wp-content/uploads/C-436.pdf]

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The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a new and innovative accounting method that embraces a more systematic and comprehensive definition of well-being. Literacy, health and fitness, housework, family time, public infrastructure, cultural institutions, community volunteerism, water and air quality, forests, farmland, wetlands, and employment are all measured by the GPI. Other countries, led by France following a ground-breaking study by Nobel award winners in economics Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, are working to broaden measurements of prosperity beyond the GDP. Canada needs to catch up.

Green Party Members of Parliament (MPs) will:

• Introduce legislation to establish a national GPI, such as the Canadian Index of Well-being developed by the Institute of Well-being, to provide the government with better information so it can do a better job of taxation and revenue-sharing with the other levels of government;
• Modify Canada’s existing system of national accounts so that annual changes in the depletion and addition to Canada’s principal natural resources are measured as an integral part of Canada’s worth.

“Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things…. The (GDP) counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage… Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, 1968

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