TD Bank Financial Group chairman and CEO Charles Baillie today announced that TD is sponsoring a forum to identify practical, innovative solutions to help Canada improve its standard of living above that of the United States.

Working with the Conference Board of Canada and chaired by former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, the TD Forum on Canada’s Standard of Living, will seek solutions to improve Canada’s declining standard of living from experts in the field of academia, business, labour, government and the not-for-profit sector. The findings of the TD Forum will be made available to the federal government for its innovation summit planned for Fall 2002.

In announcing the creation of the TD Forum in a speech to the Ottawa Canadian Club, Baillie reiterated the theme that he has raised publicly before — the objective of exceeding the U.S. standard of living within 15 years. “It is only by raising our standard of living that we can ensure the preservation of the elements we cherish so much in Canada. Being the best doesn’t mean being the same,” said Baillie.

Baillie emphasized that Canada needs to become more competitive to stay in control of its destiny and maintain and improve Canada’s distinctive quality of life. “By allowing Canada’s standard of living to decline, it puts us at the mercy of stronger economies and jeopardizes the very elements that Canada encompasses,” he explained.

Outlining steps that the private sector can undertake to increase our standard of living, Baillie highlighted a number of areas for improvement including increased productivity and innovation.

“It’s no coincidence that the Canada-U.S. standard of living gap is mirrored by the gap in productivity. We need to improve our productivity and in particular our appetite for encouraging and implementing innovative ideas. We need to retool our production infrastructures and ensure that when people lose their jobs, they are given opportunities to upgrade their skills with exposure to training and development,” observed Baillie.

In concluding, Baillie said that being second best is no longer good enough. “Making this great nation’s standard of living outstrip the United States is not a macho desire for numeric supremacy. It is an imperative if we are to protect the quality of life that makes this country the Canada that we love.”