This Bill will require the Government of Canada, through the offices of the Chief Statistician and Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, to develop a set of indicators to measure the real health and well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada, to be made accessible to Canadians and reviewed regularly by the Environment Committee.

“While not costing Canadian taxpayers a dime, this Bill will borrow the best practices from groups that are already doing great work in this area, and incorporate considerations such as impacts on literacy rates, income inequality, and the health of our environment into decisions made by the Government of Canada”, explained May. 

Although Canada is struggling to play catch-up, initiatives similar to this are gaining momentum and beginning to influence the decisions made by politicians and business leaders around the world. Prominent recent examples include the OECD’s Better Life Index, the United Nations Gross National Happiness Index, and our own Canadian Index of Wellbeing, headed by Roy Romanow and housed at the University of Waterloo.

“At its core, Bill C-436 represents an understanding that the economy and the environment are inextricably linked. While the Harper Conservatives cling to outdated notions of progress, pushing pipelines and oil tankers at the expense of our clean air and water, we need better tools to understand why such a narrow-minded and short-term focus on GDP will ultimately cost Canadians much more over the long term.”

As she introduced the Bill in the House of Commons today, Elizabeth May quoted the late US Senator Robert Kennedy at length:

“Too much and too long we seem to have surrendered community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulance 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 armoured cars and police who fight riots in our streets. It counts the knife and the rifle 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, the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning. It measures everything in short except that which makes life worthwhile.”

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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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