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FINDING SUSTAINABLE PATHWAYS

OUR PROCESS

Our process helps Canada achieve sustainable development solutions that integrate environmental and economic considerations to ensure the lasting prosperity and well-being of our nation.

RESEARCH

We rigorously research and conduct high quality analysis on issues of sustainable development. Our thinking is original and thought provoking.

CONVENE

We convene opinion leaders and experts from across Canada around our table to share their knowledge and diverse perspectives. We stimulate debate and integrate polarities. We create a context for possibilities to emerge.

ADVISE

We generate ideas and provide realistic solutions to advise governments, Parliament and Canadians. We proceed with resolve and optimism to bring Canada’s economy and environment closer together.

Home / Achieving a Balance: Four Challenges for Canada in the Next Decade / Achieving a Balance: Four Challenges for Canada in the Next Decade – Achieving a Better Balance

Achieving a Balance: Four Challenges for Canada in the Next Decade – Achieving a Better Balance

Previous - Content There is an urgent need for Canada to respond to new indications of subtle but widespread health damage due to the combined effects of environmental contaminants. Canada must do more to keep its natural environment from disappearing. In addition, we should acknowledge our overwhelmingly urban-dwelling condition and manage our urban living spaces to be healthier environments. Finally, the Canadian economy will need to diversify to weather major changes taking place in the new global economy. The four problems identified here result from an imbalance in our environment, our economy, and our standard of living, which are all interconnected and subject to rapid change. Correcting that imbalance and meeting these four challenges involves significantly increasing investments in scientific research and monitoring capacity in order to manage "to understand, track, and predict"environmental change. Not doing so puts our children at risk.
Government and industry must truly value our ecosystem as an essential service for survival and prosperity. All decision making must now integrate a "triple bottom line" of concern for the economy, the environment, and society.
Research and new data can help us find the right course. But there is an even more pressing need for immediate action on the basis of what we know now. Canada either addresses these problems within this new decade or risks its admirable quality of life. All Canadians - in governments, in industry, and in our communities - have a responsibility to become involved in the search for solutions.
The National Round Table assesses the driving engine of change, the economy, and the essential reservoir of our survival, the environment, and how to sustain them both. The Round Table is independent, impartial, and inclusive. Appointed by the Prime Minister, the members are distinguished Canadians representing a wide range of regions and sectors including business, labour, academia, and environmental and Aboriginal organizations. At the heart of their work is a commitment to improve economic and environmental policies by providing decision makers with the information they need to make choices for a sustainable future.