> The Ottawa Citizen January 29, 1999
>
> GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR GROWING, CHRETIEN TELLS DAVOS FORUM
>
> By Helen Branswell
>
> DAVOS, Switzerland (CP) _ The gap between the rich and the poor,
> even in richer countries, is growing at an unacceptable rate, Prime
> Minister Jean Chretien told the World Economic Forum Friday.
> "For me, capitalism hasn't come up with all the answers," Chretien
> said during a panel discussion titled Global Capitalism Delivering the
> Goods?
> Chretien suggested the forum might better ask if capitalism can do
> more to improve people's lives, to ensure that the profits of the free
> market economy are better distributed among the various economic
> classes.
> Following the forum, Chretien was asked whether Canada would
> contribute ground troops as part of a NATO effort to stop fighting
> between Yugoslavian government forces and ethnic Albanian
> separatists in Kosovo.
> Chretien said Canada has not been asked to take part in a ground
> force in Yugoslavia but Canada generally joins its NATO partners.
> "We will see the nature of the request," Chretien told reporters. "If
> we are asked to do more, we will do more."
> Canada currently has six CF-18 jet fighters in Aviano, Italy, that
> could be used in NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia if the two sides in the
> Kosovo dispute defy international efforts to end fighting in the Serbian
> province.
> During the panel discussion, Chretien expressed concern about the
> victims of the implosion of the Asian economies and those countries,
> such as Ukraine, that are struggling to make the transition from a
> communist state to the free market.
> Unless the gains of capitalism are shared more equitably, there
> might be a backlash against the system among those not benefiting
> from it, said Chretien, who is on the final stage of a four-country
> official tour.
> Chretien reiterated the call that Canada and other Group of Seven
> countries have been making for the past several years for increased
> transparency in financial institutions and for the private sector to take a
> more responsible role in economic development.
> The G-7 forum in Halifax, which Chretien hosted in 1995,
> attempted to deal with the issue, but it's time to take further steps, he
> said.
> "After what we've seen in Asia it's very clear we have not moved
> far enough."
> It is unacceptable that a country can see the economic progress of
> years wiped out overnight because "some boys in red suspenders in
> New York" decide that it is no longer a safe bet, Chretien said, drawing
> chuckles from the audience.
> "Who is losing? Not the bankers. At the end of the day it's the
> people in those countries."
> The private sector has to become more disciplined, he said, or
> governments will have to act.
> Chretien and his wife Aline, who visited Poland, Germany and
> Ukraine earlier this week, are scheduled to return to Ottawa on
> Saturday.