Part 6 - A Comprehensive Proposal for Economic Revival

In order to gain a complete insight into this country's current socio-econo-fiscal standing, it appears to be necessary to review a few additional statistics:

• Current (June 2011) Federal Government Deficit: $36.2 billion
• Current (April 2011) Provincial Government Deficit: $16.7 billion
• Current (April 2011) Federal Government Debt: $563.3 billion
• Current (April 2011) Provincial Government Debt: $236 billion
• Unemployment Rate in Canada: 8.1%, or 1.488 million (3 month average ending April 2011). Note: In more than a handful of countries the jobless rate is less than five per cent. 
• Unemployment Rate in Ontario: 7.9%, or 580.8 thousand (3 month average ending April 2011)
• 2010-2011 Canada EI Account, Planned Spending: $19.75 billion.

A close review of the above-listed data leads to several conclusions:

• First is the enormity of the socio-econo-fiscal problems that Canada is faced with. This becomes even more evident and begs for equitable, rational policies, and immediate corrective actions.
• Second is that, much of the stimulus programs initiated by the federal and provincial governments have produced negligible results.
• Third is that, in the absence of a foreseeable marked increase in consumer demand, business has no realistic reason to expand operations, let alone to hire new employees.
• Fourth is that, there are more than a handful of countries around the world, where the jobless rate is less than five per cent; hence one might ask, why doesn't someone study those country's MOs'? -- and
• Fifth is that, the establishment doesn't seem to have an effective plan to deal with the crucial unemployment problem, and the government appears to be resigned to spend ca. $20 billion this year on the El program, essentially keeping the unemployed off the active workforce.

Potential Solutions

Unfortunately there are many within the intellectual circles who regard the citizenry as mere subjects, whose role is to abide by the decisions of the establishment, as their trustees, no matter what the consequences are. However, since there is more than enough proof to conclude that, in order to reduce the unnecessary human suffering and effectively deal with this country's socio-econo-fiscal problems, the establishment must:

1. Set aside its decade old exclusionary “keep-out" protocol and seek out the advice of the few and far between realistic, interdisciplinary thinkers and experienced problem-solvers, who are in the know.
2. Initiate an Affordable Housing Construction Program aided by the power of volunteerism. This has already proven to be very effective, mostly in the fields of education, health care, politics, and sports. Such a program, if introduced, would fill the needs of a significant segment of the public, particularly: 
• The young singles and couples with limited, but relatively stable financial resources, who would like to create their own nest egg, i.e. buy a home and join the middle class. Or the retirees who are ready to trade down their home for a smaller, yet functional condominium, and gain access to a certain amount of spending money in the process.
• The unemployable school dropouts, who are willing to participate in various construction related job training programs, and are eager to find gainful employment in the industry. 
3. Contact foreign companies, involved in the development and production of advanced, clean electric power generation equipment, energy saving appliances. Offer such companies, interested in serving the North American market, the opportunity to set up manufacturing and distribution facilities in Canada.
4. Provide grants and forgivable loans for promising, independent innovators and inventors,  enabling them to convert their concepts into saleable products, services and employment opportunities.
5. Create a much needed economic expansion plan, to considerably reduce the perpetual unemployment and poverty crises by taking the following steps:
• Grant a $5,000 - $10,000 tax credit to reliable employers for each additional employee they hire for a minimum of a one year period. The introduction of such a tax credit could be financed from the EI budget and would save the federal government a $7,000 - $12,000 per each unemployed individual hired. That is to say that by creating l million jobs, the federal government could save $7 billion - $12 billion a year on El payments, not counting the new peripheral employment opportunities, and the additional tax revenue gained in the process.
• Replace the fixed corporate business tax with one that is prorated to a given company's contribution to reduce unemployment.
• Use the "patriotic card" by asking the business establishment to increase the size of their workforce, in lieu of temporary payroll tax exemption and for other sound fiscal incentives.
6. Diversify the Canadian economy in order to minimize the devastating effects of a potential saturation or even collapse of the IT market.
7. Widen the scope of the age-old concept of partnership and co-op system, whereby individuals with all types of occupational backgrounds could form an alliance, working together to provide marketable services, share the cost of operations, and apportion their revenue according to the rate of their respective input.
8. Apply a mathematically and theoretically proven program for literally eliminating unemployment, without any loss whatsoever in personal income.
9. Raise wages of low income earners strategically, with incalculable positive socio-econo-political results, to boost the economy, create nearly full employment and generate tax revenue for all levels of governments, and yes, even to increase the bottom-line.
10. Legalize the right to form and join employees‘ associations for all members of the workforce, -- just like business is accorded with organizations like the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, Chamber of Commerce, Employers‘ Advocacy Council, Home Builders‘ Association and many others -- to promote the interests of its members. It is expected that the legalization of such a right would create a much needed balance of power between employers and employees, just like in many other developed countries and would create a more stable working environment based on mutual trust and respect.
11. Dispose of the age-old myth, and vestige of the era of slavery, that suggests that labour cost and benefits should be minimized in order to make a business operation more profitable. Those who espouse such views should remember Henry Ford's discovery: employers are not only workers but also consumers. That is to say that low wage earning employees will automatically become meagre consumers. A situation that's not in the best interest of business, let alone the economy.

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• Part 5 - A Brief Cause and Effect Analysis
• Part 7 - Rescuing the Canadian Economy

Part 5 - A Brief Cause and Effect Analysis

At the outset of its research, The Buerger Alliance raised an important question: Why does Canada, and particularly Ontario, have so many unresolved socio-econo-fiscal problems?

It sounds incredible that, for example, in this day and age of innumerable awe-inspiring scientific breakthroughs, no one has been able to figure out how to put adequate food on the table and a proper roof over the heads of every person living in this, said to be the richest and best country in the world.

Come to think of it, isn't it the role of the establishment to provide the best possible standard of living for its entire citizenry? Should they not be utilizing the local natural and human resources, combined with the latest technology on hand, and the most effective management methods required to attain this goal? If that's not the minimum one would expect in forming a community of communities, a.k.a. nationhood, than what is it? So what‘s holding us back? -- one might ask.

Regardless of their ideological standing, all levels of governments are always more than ready to please the private sector by cutting red tape, cutting social services and taxes, providing massive fiscal incentives and concessions, and hoping that in tum, the economy will get better. However, nothing seems to be working.

And now, in order to get answers to the aforementioned questions, let's scrutinize each of the formerly identified problem areas. Areas that affect every constituent of this country, such as the economic, education, energy, health care, housing, pollution, poverty, transit, the unemployment and underemployment crises.

The Economic Crisis

First, let's take a quick glance at the Canadian economy, and see what are the basic causes of its failure to perform to its full potential.

In this context, it must be stated that to no fault of its own, and for reasons rooted in its past, Canada as a country has never really had a chance to develop its own, independent, all inclusive, and well balanced economy. Due to the ensuing lack of proper managerial culture and experience to organize and operate an autonomous economy, it's no wonder that former and present leaders have been so enthusiastic to hand over the country's economic management to the internationals. In this way they could in effect disown any responsibility for the ultimate outcome.

But let's stop for a moment or two, and see what has been happening under the aegis of the so-called "technology transfer" program. Was it a strictly honest to goodness, humanitarian act to enable the underdeveloped parts of the world to catch up with the industrialized world — a kind of 'let them share our wealth undertaking‘ -- or were there some nefarious aspects to the deal?

Well, actually the latter puzzle was settled by Premier Wen Jiabao, in the course of a U.S. TV interview last year, when he was asked the question: "When will the Chinese government be ready to raise the artificially kept low value of the Renminbi, in order to level the playing field between the two countries?" In response, the Premier suggested that, "importers shouldn't be too greedy, after all his country's manufacturers sell cellphones at $4 each, that U.S. Consumers buy for $299.99."

Since there are many in high places who swear that this country's road to salvation is in further expanding trade, hence the next question is: How can Canadian companies compete with low wage paying countries? The honest answer is that they cannot. Simply because this country's employees hardly could pay a fraction of their bills when earning an average wage of $2 an hour. After all, even a year-in, year-out full time employment, paying a minimum hourly wage of $10.25 in Ontario, is not enough to cover the cost of living for a single person, let alone a family of four.

But, there are always some super-CEOs who believe that they are able to draw blood from granite.  The latest example of this talent was demonstrated in a newspaper column by an executive who -- in his attempt to beat the 10:1 production cost advantage of foreign competitors -- suggested to automate the engineering process.  Thereby, plausibly cutting 30% of the manufacturing cost.  Admittedly, he is willing to do this, even at the cost of eliminating jobs.  Although it's not clear how he is going to deal with the remaining sevenfold cost imbalance.

On the issue of cost of employment, this country's econo-political policy advisers would tremendously benefit from studying the findings of the late Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, along with the cogent views of William Weisz, the former CEO and Chairman of Motorola Inc.

History books indicate that many decades ago, Henry Ford made an unprecedented discovery by recognizing and appreciating the fact that every employee has two basic, parallel roles to play in any economic system; being both a worker and a consumer.

As a practical thinker and employer, in 1914 Ford announced his famous profit sharing plan, and within one week raised the minimum wage in his factories from $1 per day to $5. In this way he enticed, and more importantly empowered his employees to purchase the products of their own making. Since the price of a car was at about $650, practically every employee within a year was able "own" a new vehicle and live better than ever before.

Building on Ford's theories, Weisz in 1986, at a management conference in Chicago, rebuked his fellow executives for focusing on cutting wages. "You fellows ignore the fact that, on the average, burden comes to 45%, materials about 44%, and direct labour cost generally amounts to only 11% of the manufacturing expenses. Therefore, it does not make sense to reduce wages, but strategically raising wages of low income earners does, with incalculable positive socio-econo-political results",  concluded the highly regarded, then Motorola Chairman

Incidentally, in Ontario and Quebec, currently the average labour cost is just about 10% of the total manufacturing expenses; the automotive industry has a ca. 5% to 10% labour cost component. The fast-food industries‘ labour cost is said to be one of the highest of all, at about 20%.

More recently in the U.S., according to a documentary produced and televised by CBS, more and more corporate executives go undercover and seek out the views of their employees regarding the state of the economy. Upon returning to their offices, they formulate new corporate policies to counteract the effects of the current social-economic crises. On the whole, the employees say that these bosses not only listen, but are making important changes.

Meanwhile in Europe, more companies appear to adopt Henry Ford‘s profit sharing plans. And according to DW-TV Berlin reports, in 2011 already a number of firms have paid bonuses between 2,000 to 8,000 euros each, to their low level employees. Not mentioning the fact that in a handful of European countries, the minimum yearly paid vacation is four weeks by law, and employees receive 13 month salaries each year.

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• Part 4 - General Observations on Canada's Economic Performance
• Part 6 - A Comprehensive Proposal for Economic Revival

Part 4 - General Observations on Canada's Economic Performance

Having monitored the economic performance of this country, for many years, The Buerger Alliance has noticed that, in spite of many massive fiscal incentives and concessions provided by subsequent governments to create optimal operational conditions for medium and large corporations, the economy has continued to decline.

One might further infer that, such incentives should have produced a highly efficient, well-balanced, stable and socially responsible market economy. An economy where employees, taxpayers and corporations are partners, working together for the benefits of all segments of society. Performing like Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and a few other countries that have been successful for decades.

Instead of emulating these countries‘ management style, in North America a new, semi-nomadic business model was introduced over the years, wherein near poverty line wages, reduced social benefits (if any), and high unemployment rates have become the norm. This new norm was adopted to gain a "competitive edge" on the global market and to attract more new business investments for Canada.

As a result of such policies, many companies settled for a while, enjoyed the benefits of grants, interest free loans, and access to low-cost utility rates, etc.. However, most of them eventually either sold out, closed down their operations, or even declared bankruptcy, leaving behind socio-econo-fiscal calamity.

Having learned from this cyclic experience, socially conscious governments in some parts of the world (many, many decades ago) decided to implement and maintain social security and welfare programs to ease the plight of the unemployed and low-income earning masses. While the establishment still prefers to refer to, “Small Business as the engine that drives the Canadian Economy", the reality is that most businesses find it impossible to compete with their foreign counterparts, whose manufacturing cost is 90% lower. Obviously, the officialdom hasn't been listening to the late Mary Kay, former CEO of Mary Kay Cosmetics, who on a few occasions expressed her views on this topic in the following manner, "In competition there are always winners and losers."  And one might add that Canada, as a whole, is certainly not on the winning side.

Anna Zecconi, V.P. and owner of Galt Furniture in Cambridge, Ontario, expressed her sentiments a few years ago in the media by saying that, "We are an extinct species. Furniture manufacturers are closing every day. My company employs 15 people, down from 40, and it's hard for small businesses to compete with foreign companies that dump mass produced furnishings at discounted prices."

Small commercial businesses have similar problems; inasmuch as they also cannot compete with the so-called supermarkets’ operational costs. However, even supermarkets such as Zehrs and Loblaws are also losing out to the even larger, big box stores, like Wal-Mart.

In a "one on one" conversation, employees of these new superstores are complaining that, when these buy-outs and conversions take place, they always lose seniority, get less wages, and less benefits.

Generally speaking, employers and employees are literally in a deadlock situation. Employers claim, they cannot afford to pay "living wages", and employees, earning substandard wages, are shut out of the marketplace. When that happens, in the absence of a reasonable volume of consumer base, employers are advised that they can manage with less staff, which results in a higher rate of unemployment and even less consumption. Some say, it's a road to economic self-destruction.

Yet, according to news reports, many companies are engaging in a "cost optimization program", a.k.a a "headcount reduction", in the interest of improving the bottom line.  There are even business consultants that are advising corporations on how to "manage human capital and technology more effectively in order to become more competitive." 

So the question one might raise at this point, is this: All considering, is this really the best that the establishment can provide for all the stakeholders of this country? There is plenty of evidence to suggest that by applying the appropriate policies, this country's economic performance can be substantially improved for the benefit of all.

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• Part 3 - Some Views on the Economy from Prominent Thinkers
• Part 5 - A Brief Cause and Effect Analysis

Part 3 - Some Views on the Economy from Prominent Thinkers

The number of prominent thinkers who are very concerned about this country's sad state of affairs is also on the rise. Here is a small sample of their views — as reported by the media:

• Ten Canadian leading economists, some years ago, in a joint communique — responding to the question of why this country's economy, given all its vast resources, hasn't been able to function at a higher efficiency rate — finally conceded that, "The theories of John M. Keynes, John K. Galbraith and other prominent theoreticians no longer work. Furthermore, there appear to be no new realistic economic theories in the making."
• Visiting U.K. Professor Ray Monk, lecturing at the Perimeter Institute, in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier talked about a huge "solution shortage" phenomenon, implying that, "we live in a society of experts, but today's intellectual climate is very fragmented and experts are isolated, but an interdisciplinary exchange, if initiated, could lead to many new practical ideas." 
• Glen Hodgson, Chief Economist with the Conference Board of Canada: "We need to reform our balkanized economy." 
• Gord Nixon, Chief Executive of Royal Bank: "The takeover frenzy is scary and it's time that Ottawa drew the line in the sand." 
• Robert Brown, CEO of CAE Inc., went even further by bluntly stating that, "A country must be in charge of its own destiny and can‘t have key decisions made outside."
• Allan S. Binder, Professor of Economics and Vice Chairman of the G7 Group, has warned the North American Leadership about stubbornly chanting, "Free trade is good for you, to people who know it is not. These leaders will quickly become irrelevant to the public debate." 
• Lynton (Red) Wilson, former Deputy Minister of Industry:  "Canadians have witnessed the sale to foreigners of major national icons, such as mining companies Falconbridge, lnco and Alcan. This includes steel firms like Algorna, Dofasco and Stelco, and retailers like the Hudson Bay Company. These sales have raised questions about the effectiveness of the government's assessment of such foreign investment."
• Frank McKenna, TD Vice President and former New Brunswick Premier warns Canadians: "We are facing all of the classic symptoms of the Dutch disease, where we are getting hollowed out as a manufacturing country because we are uncompetitive. Yet we have the illusion of wealth because we have a small part of our economy that is producing revenue."
• Professor Dennis Raphael of York University, Author of Poverty in Canada, blames Ontario's problems on the establishment's mistaken social-economic policies. In his book, he demonstrates "how organizations of the economic and political system causes poverty." He also argues that, "reducing poverty requires recognizing and confronting the interests that benefit from poverty."
• Quebec Premier Jean Charest a few years earlier appealed to Prime Minister Harper by stating that, "A struggling manufacturing sector has repercussions for the entire Canadian economy." 
• Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty some time ago reminded the federal government that, "It's no longer acceptable to say, all you need to do is cut taxes and stand back and the economic evolutionary forces are going to play themselves out."

Views of Other Prominent Thinkers on Global Issues

• Vaclav Havel, former Czech President: "Civilization is on the bring of collapse, because the best thinkers have been excluded, for too long by governments everywhere."
• Steven Hill, Director of the New American Foundation, — upon his return from his transatlantic investigative tour a few years ago, — provided the media with the following account of his trip: "Europe's economy and social system are two halves of a well-designed social capitalism. An ingenious framework in which the economy finances the social system to support families and employees in an age of globalized capitalism that threatens to turn us all into internationally disposable workers."
• Paul Krugman, the prominent U.S. economist, — in an article published in the New York Times, in early May 2011 — analyzing the present state of the global economy, blames the policy elites for concentrating on reducing the budget deficits instead of focusing on major job creation programs. 
• Paul Krugman, in an other New York Times article few weeks later writes, "Textbook economics and experience say that slashing spending when you're still suffering from high unemployment is a really bad idea, because much of‘ what governments save by spending less, they lose as a weaker economy depresses tax receipts." It must be added that his views should be heeded by this country's policy-makers. 
• Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric Co. — in a TV interview on June 8, 2011 — in reference to the ongoing economic crisis, made two important suggestions:
• "We need many job-creators in North America"
• "We have to bake a bigger pie and everybody will have a bigger slice"
• Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of American Prospect, in a recent article published in the Washington Post, praised the German social-economic model and attibuted its success to the fact that, "corporate boards are required by law to have an equal number of management and employee representatives."
• Charles H. Percy, former U.S. Senator: "Home ownership gives a sense of pride and dignity to people; it helps them integrate into the community."
• F.D. Roosevelt, former U.S. President: "We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings."
• Percy B. Shelley, English poet: "There is no real wealth but the labour of man."
• James J. Davis, former U.S. Senator and Labour Secretary: "The worker buys back from those who finance him the goods that he himself produces. Pay him a wage that enables him to buy, and you fill your market with ready customers."

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• Part 2 -  Some Indicators on Canada's Socio-Economic Health
• Part 4 - General Observations on Canada's Economic Performance

Part 2 - Some Indicators on Canada's Socio-Economic Health

Income Polarization

Toronto in the 1970s was a predominantly middle class city. 35 years later the city's demographics shows that the middle class is disappearing and the high and low income groups live in separate areas.

Source. The Three Cities Within Toronto, professor J. D. Hulchzmski, U of T

Note: It must be stated that, Toronto is not in a unique position, it's a common phenomenon across the country.

Personal income Statistics 2010

2008 tax year for Canada

• 52.01% of tax payers had less than $30,000 gross (before taxes) income; likewise
• 64.41% had less than $40,000 gross income.
• 26.04% -- or 6.5 million tax payers -- received $50,000 gross income or more; similarly
• 0.75% -- or 188,030 taxpayers -- received $25 0,000 gross income or more.
• The Average Gross Income was at $40,910

 2008 tax year for Ontario

• 50.67% of taxpayers had less than $3 0,000 gross income; likewise 
• 62.37% had less than $40,000 gross income. 
• 28.01% -- or 2.63 miliion tax payers -- received $50,000 gross income or more: similarly
• 0.86% -- or 80,480 tax payers -- received $250,000 gross income or more. 
• The Average Gross Income was at $47,880 

     (Source: Canada Revenue Agency) 

Note: An independent social agency suggests that a single person in Southern Ontario requires $28,300 per annum gross income to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

Economic Performance

• In 2009, 60 countries had faster Real GDP Growth than Canada. (Source: IMF 1ntemational Financial Database, March 2011 edition.)
• During the 1st three quarters of 2010, 25 countries with Real GDP had faster Growth than Canada. (Source: IMF 1ntemational Financial Database, March 2011 edition.) 
• In 2009, 55 countries experienced smaller increase in the Unemployment Rate than Canada. (Source: International Labour Organization, Short-Term Indicators of the Labour Market, March 2011 edition.) 
• During the 1st three quarters of 2010, 27 countries experienced a larger improvement in the Unemployment Rate than Canada. (Source: International Labour Organization, Short-Term Indicators of the Labour Market, March 2011 edition.)

Unemployment Rates
3 month moving average ending April 2011

• Canada EI Account, Income Benefits, Planned Spending 2010-2011 $19.751 Billion 
• Canada 1.4886 million, or 8.1%
• Ontario 580.8 thousand, or 7.9%
• Australia 5.0%
• Austria 4.3%
• Denmark 4.2%
• Malaysia 3.2%
• Norway 3.2% 
• Singapore 2.2% 
• Switzerland 3.4% 

     (Source. The Economist, March 26, 2011) 

Corporate Tax Rate Reduction vs. Unemployment Rate

 Click on chart for detailed data view:

Click for larger view

• 1950 - Combined Provincial, Federal Corporate, OAS Tax Rate 46.4%, Unemployment Rate 1.5%
• 1975 - Combined Provincial, Federal Corporate, OAS Tax Rate 23.1%, Unemployment Rate 6.9%
• 1985 - Combined Provincial, Federal Corporate, OAS Tax Rate 15%, Unemployment Rate 10.7%
• 1993 - Combined Provincial, Federal Corporate, OAS Tax Rate 6.9%; Unemployment Rate 11.2%
• 1995 - Combined Provincial, Federal Corporate, OAS Tax Rate 11.2%, Unemployment Rate 9.4%

     (Source:  Statistics Canada)

The aforementioned data illustrates the seriousness of this country‘s socio-econo-fiscal state of affairs that demands an entirely new multi-pronged methodology to lead Canada out of the quagmire.  Moreover, Corporate Tax Rate reduction doesn't seem to create employment.

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• Part 1 - Can We Revive The Canadian Economy?
• Part 3 - Some Views on the Economy from Prominent Thinkers

Part 1 - Can We Revive The Canadian Economy?

In view of the dismal state of this country's affairs, compounded by Canada's recently revealed involvement in carrying an additional, over $600 billion debt-load, -- brought about by being integrated into the international banking system -- one might infer that, in spite of all its best efforts to revive the economy, the establishment must realize that it is in a catch-22 situation, in so far as:

• On the one hand, the Canadian marketplace is severely handicapped by the extremely limited purchasing power meted out, to near or below poverty-line wage recipients, and doled out to the unemployed masses.
• On the other hand, governments cannot balance their respective budgets, due to this country's rapidly shrinking tax base, and the simultaneously increasing need for all types of welfare services. One might also add that, Controllers and Treasurers -- looking for solutions to deal with the problem -- appear to favour cutting vital services, as opposed to finding ways and means to increase their respective revenues.

And, since the socio-econo-political establishment has demonstrated that it is no longer willing to listen to the sound judgments and proposals of the few and far between, out-of-the-box thinkers and problem solvers, -- clearly the only remaining potential source of realistic remedies, -- now it's up to the public to decide what future will hold. Shall it be the acceptance of the status quo, that represents belt tightening and increased sacrifices; or shall it be an honest effort made through a series of non-dogmatic programs, to rescue this country from the current impasse?

Our Mission Statement

Our mission is to set up a "no-axe to grind" channel of communication, in a series of “Straight Talk About ..." articles, with the intent to document this country's true socio-econo-fiscal state of affairs, and demonstrate to the public that there are a series of mathematically proven, practical methods to effectively deal with the economic stagnation, poverty, unemployment and a host of other problems that have grown to crisis proportions.

Background

Some years ago, concerned about the stagnant economy and other social issues, several board members of an engineering association, decided to set up an experimental research and problem-solving discussion group, to monitor the social-economic developments in this country. Participants in this non-partisan discussion group have had a rare combination of much needed Euro-North American background in applied economics, engineering, industrial planning, political science, systems analysis. combined with a host of other studies.

A few years later, drawing on their extensive personal professional experience as employees, consultants, employers, managers and executives, having worked within the North American private and public sectors,  the group became aware of its collective forte and decided to form The Buerger Alliance,  an informal organization focussed on socio-econo-enviro-fiscal research and problem-solving.

As a result of their multidisciplinary background and problem-solving capacity, members of this alliance have succeeded in formulating a series of comprehensive position papers on how to deal with the country's unresolved problems. Problems occuring in the economy, education, energy, health care, housing, pollution, poverty, transit, unemployment and underemployment crises. The group's research papers were offered to the news media, and without exception were published as op-ed page articles by various mainstream newspapers, and monthlies. This public exposure eventually led to several meetings with high ranking government officials, and in a few instances these discussions ended up with the acceptance of the group's recommendations.

However, at about by the beginning of the 21st century, the entire establishment began to adopt an exclusionary "keep-out" protocol. This strict protocol prohibits "outsiders" to engage in any form of meaningful communication with members of the hierarchy regarding comprehensive proposals and programs for alleviating this country's critical socio-econo~enviro-fiscal problems.

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• Part 2 -  Some Indicators on Canada's Socio-Economic Health