    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [February 24, 1995]
    [Pages 259-261]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Breakfast With Business Leaders in Ottawa
    February 24, 1995

        Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, Ambassador Chretien,
    Ambassador Blanchard. Ladies and gentlemen, Ambassador Blanchard's
    introduction of me is a sterling illustration of what is known in our
    little circle of friends as Clinton's third law of politics, which is,
    whenever possible, be introduced by someone you have appointed to high
    office. They'll lie about you every time. [Laughter]
        I want to thank Jim Blanchard for the wonderful job that he has done
    representing the United States in Canada and representing Canada to the
    United States. I want to say the second half of that again, Mr. Prime
    Minister: representing Canada to the United States. Sometimes he comes
    to see me in the White House and he works me over for 10 or 15 minutes
    about one of these rather complicated issues that we are trying to
    discuss between our two countries, and I look at Jim and I say, ``Now,
    whose side are you on, anyway?'' which is, I think, the best compliment
    I could give him in being part of the cement that holds this remarkable
    relationship together.
        I want to welcome all the business leaders here from Canada and the
    United States. Thank you for coming today. I'd also like to thank you,
    madam, for hosting us in this magnificent, magnificent hall in this
    wonderful facility. It's a tribute to the vision of the people of Canada
    in building it for all of the citizens here and others who visit.
        I ran for President of the United States primarily because I wanted
    to help get our country's economic policy back on track, because I felt
    that unless we had a strategy for moving into the 21st century in ways
    that would give all of our people a chance to be rewarded for their work
    and succeed as workers and as members of families, we were going to have
    a very difficult time in preserving the magic of the American dream.
        And we have worked very, very hard for the last 2 years in our
    administration, in our country to try to do the things that, it seems to
    me, are critical to pursuing that mission: to increase trade, to
    diminish the deficit, to increase the level of partnership between the
    public and private sectors, to advance the cause of American interests
    around the world, to improve our investment and the quality of our
    investment in the education and training of our people--to do those
    things, in short, which would increase the productivity of the American
    work force in ways that would actually generate not only more jobs but
    higher incomes.
        Canada has almost exactly the same challenges because all the
    advanced economies of the world face the same challenges in the global
    economy of the 21st century. One key to that for us is making the most
    of our relationship. And Jim Blanchard mentioned that when we first met
    12 years ago when we were both young Governors, I had--even though I was
    a long way from Canada, I was asked to be one of the Governors that
    promoted the interest of what subsequently became NAFTA, the first
    agreement between the United States and Canada, among the Governors and
    then tried to sell it in the Congress and especially among those who
    were somewhat more protectionist in our Congress. I was glad to be able
    to do that.
        And since then, I am pleased with the progress that we have made
    working with Canada and NAFTA, which has increased our bilateral trade
    by about 15 percent last year alone; in the GATT agreement; in the Asian
    Pacific Economic Cooperation group that we're a part of that's now
    agreed to open markets in Asia early in the next century, something
    very, very important to those of us here in the West; and of course in
    the Summit of the Americas, trying to open the markets in Latin America
    to all of us. And Latin America, as all of you know, is the second
    fastest growing set of economies in the world and an enormous
    opportunity for all of us here, as well as an enormous responsibility in
    terms of what we should be doing in preserving democracy and open
    markets in that part of the world.
        I am pleased with all of that. I'm especially pleased that a few
    months ago, for the first time ever in our country, there was a survey
    which said that more people saw trade as a source of hope than as a
    threat for the first time since we had been taking such public opinion
    surveys. That is very important. My premise is that unless all of us
    intend to just close our

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    markets, we will get the downside of global trade and global economics
    just by living and getting up every day. And the only way we can get the
    upside is to aggressively push these trade agreements and then work on
    having the kind of arrangements necessary to expand the frontiers of
    opportunity. So I feel very, very strongly about all of that. And I hope
    that all of us can be working on that in the years ahead.
        In the meanwhile, let's not forget that there's something to be said
    for doing more to make the most of what's right here in front of us, our
    own relationship. And the aviation agreement that we're going to sign in
    a few minutes is an example of that. It will make it easier for
    businesses to do business by significantly expanding passenger and cargo
    services between our two countries. It will mean billions of dollars in
    new business activity and thousands of new jobs on both sides of our
    border. Now, the only bad news is for those of you with frequent flier
    accounts; it means you'll earn fewer miles because it will be so much
    easier and quicker to get back and forth between Canada and the United
    States. That's also a high-class problem in this context. [Laughter]
        Let me say one other thing. This summer the Prime Minister is going
    to host the G-7 nations in Halifax. And one of the questions we will be
    dealing with there is a question, it seems to me, that's central to the
    economic future of our nations in the 21st century. And no one at least
    with whom I have talked has the answer to this question, but I invite
    you to ponder it. What we are trying to determine is whether or not the
    institutions that were developed for the global economy after the Second
    World War, the IMF, the World Bank, all the others, can adapt within the
    terms in which they must now operate to the challenges of the 21st
    century.
        We're very mindful of that here in the United States and in Canada
    now because of the recent financial challenges that Mexico faced and how
    we saw that reverberating throughout Latin America, the impact in
    Argentina, the impact in Brazil, the kinds of things that could happen
    just as we're building up democracy and free markets and real
    opportunities for us there.
        And so, the last point I want to leave you with is this: We are
    getting the enormous benefits of the market, and we are pushing those
    benefits as aggressively as we know how. But in the end, what sustains
    support for democratic governments and market economics is that they
    work for ordinary people. That's what sustains them in the end.
        Every day, whether the sun shines or not, no matter who's in the
    White House or giving the speeches in Ottawa, most of our folks get up
    every day and go to work and do the very best they can and live out
    their dreams as best they can and raise their children as best they can.
    And they must believe that if they do this, that somehow they will be
    rewarded; that in our system, if they work hard, if they play by the
    rules, if they're the best workers, the best mothers, the best fathers
    they can possibly be, then a good society will give them a chance. The
    same thing must be true in these developing countries that we're trying
    to bring into our way of believing about politics and economics. They
    have to believe that if they do the right thing, they will be able to
    build a better life.
        And all the institutions that we developed at the end of the Second
    World War had certain assumptions about the way the world economy would
    work that are no longer accurate. They are trying to adapt to this new
    world. Whether they can or not is the question we will deal with in
    Halifax. The Prime Minister's been very active in pushing this debate. I
    have tried to be active in pushing this debate. We invite all of you to
    be a part of this debate because, after all, your interests, your
    future, your companies, your workers, their families will be very much
    affected by what we do.
        In the meanwhile, I am absolutely confident that our common
    endeavors to make the most of our own relationships may be the most
    important thing we can do in the near term to further the dreams of all
    of our people.
        I'd like now to close by inviting Prime Minister Chretien up here,
    by telling you that as the President of the United States, one of the
    most important responsibilities I have and one of the great joys of my
    job is getting to know a huge number of the leaders of the countries of
    the world. And it's no small comfort to me--I must say this 20 times a
    year after I have a meeting with somebody from somewhere--I say, you
    know, now that I've met him or her, I understand it's no accident that
    this person got to run that country. The selection systems in all these
    nations tend to produce people who have the capacity to do what they're
    supposed to do at the time they're required to serve. But I can tell you
    that in many, many

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    years in public life I have rarely met anybody that I thought had the
    particular blend of strengths that Prime Minister Chretien has, a man
    who cares passionately about ordinary people and the problems that they
    face and is also terrifically engaged in the great intellectual
    challenges that governing in this new time presents and that has the
    practical sense to build the bridges between the great challenges of the
    time and the ordinary concerns of real citizens. He is a very, very good
    leader for this time, and I am very glad to have him as our partner in
    trying to build our dreams for the 21st century.
        Prime Minister.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:56 a.m. in the Great Hall at the National
    Gallery of Canada. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Jean
    Chretien; Canadian Ambassador to the United States Raymond Chretien;
    U.S. Ambassador to Canada James J. Blanchard; and Shirley Thomson,
    director, National Gallery of Canada.