Western Economic Diversification Canada
www.wd-deo.gc.ca
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Executive Summary
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Sustatinable Development- The WD Approach
Future generations have the right to a quality of life equal to that of today's generation. In order to achieve this objective, Western Economic Diversification (WD) embraces the concept of sustainable development, and is working to integrate it into all aspects of decision-making. For WD, sustainable development is achieved when full consideration is given to economic development, the preservation of the environment and the social well being of Canadians.
As a regional department that advances economic development in the western provinces, WD is positioned to enhance Western Canada’s progress towards sustainable development within government and business.
A Strategy for achieving sustainable development
Rather than looking exclusively at environmental aspects in our second sustainable development strategy (SDS 2000), WD’s strategy will focus on integrated decision-making, and in particular on ways to facilitate sustainable economic development. Two of WD's three goals focus specifically on programs, products and services and on working with partners and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to extend sustainable development beyond the department.
This SDS represents a significant undertaking for a department with a staff of 340. Consistent with the requirements of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, we have reviewed our progress, sought input through consultations with external and internal stakeholders, and developed an environmental management system (EMS). This will ensure that we meet our SDS commitments.
Our major commitments
The WD SDS 2000 contains several targets that will be used to assess progress. Equally important are three fundamental commitments that will improve the effectiveness of this strategy. WD is making the following major commitments in this SDS:
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Implementation of our SDS using an ISO 14001-based EMS – As required under the Greening of Government Policy, WD has developed an EMS based on the principles of ISO 14001. As an internationally accepted standard, it will be familiar to many of our external clients and stakeholders, and it will serve as an excellent foundation for our SDS efforts.
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Development of a Performance Measurement Framework – The May 2000 Report from the Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) clearly indicated that a performance measurement framework should be a part of all SDS submissions. WD has developed a framework that meets the requirements outlined in the report and has integrated it into our overall approach to sustainable development.
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Participation of WD Senior Management-The Deputy Minister of WD has provided clear direction to staff to develop and implement objectives and targets that will further the integration of sustainable development into WD products, services and activities. This support includes a commitment from senior management to review the SDS on a regular basis, to recognize achievements and to initiate corrective action as required.
The specific goals, objectives and targets are presented in Section 7.0 of this document and are summarized in Table 3. In addition, the action plan for achieving these goals is presented in Section 8.0 and summarized in Table 4.
