Imagine going back to 1975 and telling people about the future. They might expect that people’s lives got better and that we solved some of our biggest problems. Instead you would have to explain inequality, how the rich got stupid rich and everyone else was left behind. That climate change has been understood for decades, but governments refuse to fix it. That it takes a winning lotto ticket to get a downpayment on a house in Vancouver or Toronto, but to be fair TV and phones got a lot better.
How did this happen?
Governments decided to focus on the needs of the rich above all other considerations and…well… their needs were met. Normal people and nature were demoted to resources to be exploited as cheaply as possible and somehow told for their own benefit.
There is still time to fix it.
Now imagine travelling forward in time 40 years. What does it look like for people and nature? What have we created? By bringing many voices to the table we hashed out a long-term plan for jobs, people, and nature; we created a better future. Government, unions, civil society, academia, business together made a long-term plan to make all of our lives better. We were not scared to change our plan where it failed us. We created good jobs and a sustainable economy that respects nature’s limits.
This may sound utopic, but that is only because we got used to watching our biggest problems getting worse as governments refuse to change. Laissez-faire had its chance, now let’s fix it. Laissez-plan, together.