• The Challenge and the Goal
• A Question of Direction
• Why We Will Succeed
• Seeds For Change
• Audio Visual Resources

• Things You Can Do
  • At the Personal Level
  • At the Community Level
  • At the Government Level
• "Life, Money & Illusion
  • What the book is about
  • Book Reviews
  • What people are saying
  • Where to find the book
• Touring with the Message
  • Where we are going
  • Where we have been
  • What people are saying
  • Discussion Outline
  • Planning an Event
• Measuring Well-Being
  • History
  • Measuring Genuine Progress
  • Current Program
  • Well-Being Measurement Act
  • Measuring Well-Being document
• Mutual Provision - Economy
  • Economic Concern
  • 3/5ths of Ecology
  • The Invisible Hand
  • Supply and Demand
  • The Genuine Progress Index

• About the Book
• Order the book
• Other writings
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Measuring Well-Being

The plan is to bring the benifits of a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) to the attention of enough people and Members of Parliament that adopting such a program will be an obvious step. Action Plan Here

Introduction:

From 1997 to 2003 there was a program under way to establish Canadian GPI.

The program started with the election of an MP willing to champion the cause, and ended with the passage of a resolution saying that it was the opinion of the House of Commons the Government should establish such a system of measurement. The chronical contains many documents and communications from this period. This short history brings us to today.

The Government didn't.

So we are setting out again to raise awareness of how we might measure genuine progress and organize to move forward with such measures.

Its crazy to measure progress with our eyes closed.

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A Short History:

A Genuine Progress Index (GPI) is a set of measures that indicate improvements or deterioration in a variety of factors related to social, environmental and economic circumstances. It is a far more detailed account of how well a country or community is doing than the present measure of GDP, which accounts only for the amount of money being spent in a territory.

The Canada Well-Being Measurement Act emerged from an all candidate's debate in 1997 when the Green Party candidate Peter Bevan-Baker presented the Party's policy for a GPI. Joe Jordan, the Liberal candidate, was genuinely interested and asked for more details. When Mr. Jordan won the seat, he invited Peter to his office to discuss proposing the measure as a private member's bill.

After four years of consulting with concerned citizens, people active in well-being measurement, and the Legislative Council assigned to Mr. Jordan's initiative, the Canada Well-Being Measurement Actwas introduced in the House of Commons.

The 36th parliament ended before the proposal was selected for private member's business. With the act already drafted, however, Mr. Jordan introduced it within a month of the opening of the next parliament and on June 2nd, 2003, it came up for discussion. In the transcript of the debate, much support was expressed. The only arguments against the proposal were rhetorical. Some Block Quebecois members expressed concern that it was proposed from English Canada and some Alliance members expressed weariness of anything Liberal.

By the time Joe's Act was finally drawn, the protocol for private member's business had been changed to accept only motions. Not wanting to let the opportunity pass, the key paragraph from the Act was incorporated into a motion stating: "That, in the opinion of this House, the government should develop and report annually on a set of social, environmental and economic indicators of the health and well-being of people, communities and ecosystems in Canada."

The next day, The House of Commons voted 185 to 46 in favour of the motion.

Unfortunately, the Government did not act on Parliament's recommendation.