THE COUNTRY IS AT A TURNING POINT NOW.

and competent executives, add value. But large numbers of consultants, lawyers, academics, do not.

Of course, we must be a society of laws and have enough lawyers to operate it, and a society that values and encourages all useful cultural activity. Higher learning and the arts must be generously supported and we must always be on guard against being or becoming an ignorant or professionally under-served society. We have substantially fewer doctors per capita than almost all other advanced countries, mainly because Pierre Trudeau and Monique Begin drove large numbers of our doctors out of the country by banning private medicine in 1984. The legal profession and legislative and regulatory authorities should be many people. It is one of the best features of the last 30 or so years that there have been tremendous advances by democratic government and the free market, generally as a result of the Western victory in the Cold War and the rout of the international Marxist left.

The pursuit of economic growth in China, India and Indonesia, representing about 40 per cent of the world’s population, has boot-strapped a billion people out of poverty and into productive economic life over that time. This has increased economic competition and Canada must respond to it. There has never been any excuse for Canada to have a lower standard of living than Australia and the Netherlands, and we should focus as goals on leading all indicators of economic strength (except