Why Connect the Dots?
The CIW will fill a large gap in the Canadian dialogue about public policy making. It will help build a dialogue that goes beyond what the GDP, as a purely economic measure, can tell us about our wellbeing.
GDP is based on a paradigm that says “more is better”. Spending on tobacco, natural and human-made disasters, crime and accidents, all make GDP go up. But these are hardly signs that Canadians are better off. Nor are considerations made for activities that heat up our planet, pollute our air and waterways, or destroy farmlands, wetlands and old-growth forests. The notion of sustainability – ensuring that precious resources are preserved for future generations – doesn’t enter the equation.
The CIW adopts a completely different paradigm. It distinguishes between activities that are beneficial and those that are harmful to our overall wellbeing. It treats beneficial activities as assets and harmful ones as deficits – providing a more accurate accounting of the wellbeing of Canadians. Under the CIW paradigm, “less is often (though not always) better” – less crime, less pollution, less tobacco, and living longer and better all drive the CIW upwards.
Imagine an Index that:
- distinguishes between good things like health and clean air, and bad things like sickness and pollution;
- promotes volunteer work and unpaid care-giving as social goods, and overwork and stress as social deficits;
- puts a value on educational achievement, early childhood learning, economic and personal security, a clean environment, and social and health equity; and
- values a better balance between investment in health promotion and spending on illness treatment.
The CIW will shine a spotlight on how the strategic allocation of economic resources ‘upstream’ will reduce the need for expensive health care and social services ‘downstream’. In other words, it will focus on getting things right at the beginning – when the solutions are cheaper and far more effective – instead of fixing them at the end.
The CIW can provide a valuable and compelling public policy tool that resonates with opinion leaders, media, and decision makers, while informing the ‘water cooler chat’ of everyday Canadians about how they are really doing when it comes to what matters most. It is only by understanding how a variety of factors combine and interact, that we can bring forward policies and programs that meet the challenges of the 21st century.