| Economic Targets for Canada |
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Finance Minister Sets Clear Economic Targets for Liberal Government
Leading up to the 2000 Canadian federal election campaign, Liberal finance minister Paul Martin gave clear indications of where he thinks Canada's economy should go.
The key to Mr. Martin's economic strategy is "innovation" and it has been an ongoing theme of the Liberal government.
When Mr. Martin talks about innovation, he is referring to new technologies that are creating a new global economy "without frontiers," with new industries and massive changes to the traditional industrial base. To ensure that Canada will lead, not trail, technological change, Martin has set very specific targets.
The TargetsThe finance minister says that if Canada is to succeed in the next decade, the following goals must be met.
- E-commerce - The target is for Canada to have five percent of global e-commerce trade by 2003. Governments in Canada must act as a catalyst and provide all their information and services online. The federal government expects to have its part done by 2004.
- Research and Development - The goal is for Canada to rank in the top five of OECD countries in terms of R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP. In 2000 Canada ranked 15th.
- Commercialization - Canadian universities and government labs must match the commercialization rates of comparable U.S. schools and labs.
- Financing - The target is for Canada to place among the top three industrial countries in the level of new venture capital investments per capita and also to match the United States in dollar value per capita of initial public offerings (IPOs). In 1999 the dollar value per capita of IPOs by Canadian companies in Canada was half that raised by American companies in the United States.
- Education - All Canadian children must be computer literate by the time they are out of elementary school. Canada must be among the top five countries in the world in international science and math tests.
- Training - The aim is to double current job-related training, which in 2000 was running at about one week a year.
