The case for an economic charter of rights and responsibilities

Numerous surveys taken over the years have shown that Canadians view the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as this country’s most important national symbol — ahead of hockey, the Mounties and our national anthem.

What’s more, a national survey conducted by the Environics Institute last year found that an overwhelming majority of Canadians believe the charter has been positive for the country. The charter guarantees Canadians a wide range of rights, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of mobility, as well as the right to life, liberty and security of the person.

Although it guarantees a number of important rights, the charter alone is not sufficient — it needs to be fortified with an economic charter of rights, one that includes the right of workers to accumulate wealth through profit participation.

Canada could become one of the first countries in the world to establish an “economic charter of rights and responsibilities,” with rights that guarantee Canadians the ability to participate in the economy and responsibilities that require the government to manage public finances in a fiscally sound manner.

The biggest void in our society right now is a national focus on the strength of our economy. An economic charter would be a big step forward in terms of putting in place a permanent framework to ensure that our economy functions properly and that Canadians get a fair share of the profits they help produce, while also keeping taxation as low as possible.

The economic charter would be embedded in the Canadian Constitution and would therefore be legally binding, giving it real teeth instead of simply being a collection of statements or a wish list.

As a result, the charter should include the right of all Canadians who work at companies with more than 300 employees to receive 20 per cent of the company’s annual profits.

Where there are rights, there are usually also responsibilities. But the responsibilities contained in the charter would fall mainly on the shoulders of government rather than on citizens. Government responsibilities could include a number of items, such as the responsibility to balance the budget on an annual basis and the responsibility to eliminate any debt it has incurred.

To keep bureaucratic growth in check, we should adopt a standard benchmark used to measure how countries are performing economically. One type of benchmark or measuring stick would be to look at government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product.

Another would be the share of public-sector employment as a percentage of the country’s total employment. But perhaps the best — and simplest — measuring stick would be the number of public-sector employees per thousand inhabitants.

A study done by a French government policy institute shows that when this benchmark is used, Canada is one of the highest among OECD countries, with a rate of about 100 public sector employees per 1,000 people, while the United States sits at around the 70 mark and Japan is the lowest at 40. I would propose that Canada adopt a benchmark of 50 public-sector employees per thousand people.

The economic charter would attempt to balance out the forces that drive the economy and ensure fairness for all Canadians. It would lead to economic democracies, and economic democracies are the basis for democracy itself.

National Post
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Frank Stronach is the founder of Magna International Inc., one of Canada’s largest global companies, and an inductee in the Automotive Hall of Fame.