Index tells how Canada is really doing

"How Canadians are really faring… new index pinpoints inequalities… healthier, wealthier, not having as much fun.” Those are the national headlines this morning, with the launch of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, which made its home at the University of Waterloo earlier this year.

Canada has become a world leader in measuring human wellbeing through this new calculation, which is set to challenge the Gross Domestic Product as the sole measure of a country's progress, says former politician and health advisor Roy Romanow, who chairs an advisory board chair for the CIW.

With a reception for supporters, held in Toronto last night, and data made available on its website, the CIW is releasing a comprehensive composite index designed by an interdisciplinary team of Canadian and international experts to measure the overall wellbeing of Canada.

“It shows that Canadians' quality of life hasn’t improved at anywhere near the pace of economic growth as measured by GDP,” a news release says.

"Since 1994, the starting point for the CIW, Canada's wellbeing has seen an overall improvement of 11 per cent — paling in comparison to the 31 per cent growth in the country's GDP over that same time frame," says Romanow.

"The CIW shows us what GDP cannot: our country is not reaping all of the benefits of our economic growth. Our quality of life has actually gone down in areas such as the environment, leisure and culture, and time use, with only modest gains in health. And even in areas where growth has been robust, our research shows that it was the top 20 per cent that received the lion’s share of rising income and wealth during the boom years, while the gap down to the bottom 20 per cent grew even larger. That's the Canadian reality."

The news release says the CIW index is “seen as a global leader by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development” and is based on 64 separate indicators in eight interconnected categories, built to reflect real Canadian life.

"This may well be a defining moment in our new economic reality," says CIW deputy chair Monique Bégin, another former cabinet minister. "By providing an accurate snapshot of how Canada’s wellbeing is faring over time, the CIW gives us the tools we need to hold governments accountable for their actions and decisions, so that our quality of life grows along with GDP." 

Based in Waterloo’s faculty of applied health sciences, the CIW provides an opportunity to bring together experts in all aspects of wellbeing. The faculty has been an international leader for over 40 years in research related to promoting health and optimizing quality of life.

"This is an exciting first step toward a better understanding of the complexity of our wellbeing," says Bryan Smale (photo above), professor in the department of recreation and leisure studies (part of AHS) and director of the CIW. "The reports we will be generating in the coming years will drive the conversation leading to real social change that will enhance Canadian lives."

Today's release of the CIW puts Canada ahead of France and the UK, countries also on their way to developing a similar index, he says.

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Lecture tomorrow by British science advisor

The former chief scientific advisor to the British government will give the annual Arthur J. Carty lecture at the University of Waterloo tomorrow. Sir David King, who is currently the director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford University, was the British government’s chief scientific advisor under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and head of the government office for science from 2000 to 2007.

King’s lecture is entitled “Do Governments Need Science Advisors?” The talk will draw on a wide range of issues King faced in government, such as the world’s largest foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, advising security services after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and establishing the world’s first adaptation strategy against climate impacts for the British Isles.

The Arthur J. Carty Lectureship was established by distinguished professor emeritus Francis W. Karasek to honour Arthur J. Carty, former chair of the Waterloo chemistry department and the current executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, who served a term as science advisor to the prime minister of Canada.

“We are delighted to welcome Sir David King to the University of Waterloo and look forward to hearing his insights on the potential of the science advisory system in governance,” says Carty. “Now in its fifth year, the Arthur J. Carty Lectureship continues to attract high profile individuals with expertise in a variety of scientific topics.”

This event, hosted by the faculty of science, will be held in Hagey Hall room 1101 and starts at 3:30 p.m. Friday. It will be followed by a reception. RSVPs are accepted online or at ext. 38804.

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Yes, those are Waterloo T-shirts at the front of the room during an assembly at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College, an elite international high school in Mbabane, Swaziland. "Because the school in Swaziland do not get a lot of visitors," says Michelle Burlock of Waterloo's marketing and undergraduate recruitment office, "they hold something each week called Varsity Week. For the entire week, the school features one University. They highlight some of the school’s programs, pin up university posters and run contests about the university with prizes being given. Last week was the University of Waterloo’s week."

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Delicate drops in the daily deluge

It's the final day for “Professional School and Post-Degree Days”, organized by the Centre for Career Action and aimed at students who are considering graduate or professional school. The event runs from 11:00 and 2:00 in the Student Life Centre. Students will have the opportunity to speak with representatives from 52 assorted institutions today, says career advisor Elizabeth Adrian. "This once-a-year event allows students to find out more about career options, graduate school admission requirements, program specifics, and the procedures and deadlines for applications. Some of the fields of study offered include Architecture, Business, Chiropractic, Education, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Health Sciences, Law, Naturopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Rehabilitation Sciences, Social Work, and Theology.”

A festival of Indian films is under way, with some of the showings taking place at the Princess Cinema in central Waterloo, and some of them right on campus. Tonight it's the latter, with the Bengali film "Moner Manush" (subtitled in English) shown at 8:00 in Arts Lecture Hall room 124. Before that, at 7 p.m., Sri Lankan-Canadian artist Rajni Perera will speak on "The New Ethnography". Says Doris Jakobsh of the religious studies department, the festival's organizer: "Perera explores issues of hybridity, sacrilege, irreverence, ethnography, sexuality, popular culture, deities, monsters and dream worlds through her art work, including their intersectionality with Bollywood themes."

Susan Schultz Huxman, the new president of Conrad Grebel University College, was officially installed last weekend. Watch for some notes from the installation service in the Daily Bulletin in a few days. She'll be honoured tonight with a reception for invited guests, held in  Grebel's atrium.

And . . . the Warrior golf teams brought home both the men's and women's OUA golf championships following play at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club in Kingston on Tuesday. It’s the second straight year that the women's team earned the gold; on the men's side Garrett Rank of Waterloo repeated as the men's individual champion. The men's team entered day two trailing the first place team, Queen's, by five strokes but came back to earn the gold.  Waterloo had a combined team score of 594, followed by the Queen's Golden Gaels at 600 and Western Mustangs at 601. Individually, Rank was two-over-par for the tournament, bringing home the gold medal and Len Shore trophy for the second straight year. On the women's side, with a total combined score of 486, the Warriors were victorious by a staggering 18 strokes over second place Western (504). Leading the way for the Warrior women was second year kinesiology student Jane Tang, who shot a two-day total of 17-over par, giving her a tie for the silver medal.

CAR

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