Building links between Sweden and Québec
Québec and Sweden have lots of similarities. Sweden has been a model for Québec on many issues but there are still not many links between the two.
Here are some resemblances between Sweden and Québec:
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Population size: 9 million/7,5 million |
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Climate |
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Importance of water as a national symbol |
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Midsummer/Saint-Jean Baptiste festivities – end of June |
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IT and biotechnologies |
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Presence of industrial ports |
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Bus plants : Volvo/Nova Bus + Prévost (belong to Volvo Group) |
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Native population: Samis/Inuits |
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Social-democrat parties are recently elected very competent women as chiefs: Mona Sahlin/Pauline Marois |
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Gender-equal government (up to 2005 in Sweden; since 2006 in Québec) |
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21 regions in Sweden (19 in Québec) |
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11 cities that have more than 100 000 pop. (9 cities in Québec) |
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Concerns for cultural protection (Swedish/French) |
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Importance of Local politics for regional development |
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Hockey |
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Economy based on natural resources (agriculture, forest, fisheries and mines) |
But there are also some differences between Sweden and Québec:
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Religion: lutherian/catholic |
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US impact very important in Québec |
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Sweden is a country, Québec a province; both are nations |
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Sweden has many large enterprises; Québec’s economy is mainly SME and micro-enterprises |
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Sweden has two large car manufacturers (SAAB/Volvo Cars); Québec has none |
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Sweden’s governance is top-down; Québec is bottom-up |
Here are some inspirations that Québec got from Sweden:
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Public day-care centers |
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Community-oriented health centers |
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Social-democrat orientation |
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Gender-equality programs (Sweden has also been influenced by Québec on this issue) |
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Environment ex: geothermic heating |
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24/hour lighting for cars |
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Winter tires mandatory law |
It is interesting for Québecers to develop links with Sweden in sustainable development issues.
Sweden is a model in many sustainable development issues. For example:
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Local Agenda 21: All Swedish regions and municipalities have a Local Agenda 21
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District heating: Many Swedish cities have apartments blocks and municipal buildings linked by pipes to transport heat from incineration or biogas
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Biogas as biofuel: Thousands of cars, hundreds of busses and trains run on biogas, mostly from waste
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Reduction of oil-dependency: solar panels, wind turbines and biomass are already replacing fossil fuels for many energy uses. Some of these alternative production of energy is also done locally, in order to increase self-control of energy production.
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Pedestrian streets: City downtowns such as Göteborg include many pedestrian streets without hindering commercial profitability.
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Allmansrätten: A special law that allows anybody to wander on any land, with respect to flora, fauna and peace. Most parks and ferrys are free in Sweden.
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Gender Equality Law: applies to all sectors of society.
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Gender Gap Index: Canada keeps on going backwards (from 7th in 2005 to 13th in 2006 and 18th in 2007) while Sweden stays first. Source: World Economic Forum.
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Global competititiveness: Sweden is 4th (from Rank 9th last year) while Canada gets moves backward being 13th (from Rank 12th last year). Source: World Economic Forum
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Creativity: According to Richard Florida, Sweden has been deemed the most creative nation of Europe. Montréal was also on his best-spot list.
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Innovation: According to the European Commission of innovative strength in the EU, Sweden is the most innovative country in the EU.
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It is strategic for Swedes to develop links with Québec.
Through Canada, Québec belongs to the Commonwealth, the G-8 and the Francophonie network, which includes French-speaking countries from all continents. Next to the US, Québec is the entry to the continent from Europe and is the most European part of North America. Same as Sweden, there are lots of Québecers that speak two languages while we can share strategies on how we can share our cultures. These are definite strategic advantages for Swedish enterprises, NGOs and governmental organizations that want to enter these markets.
As said before, Sweden has often been a model for Québec for its social-democrat initiatives that are, most of the time, very effective and easily adapted to Québec. A lot of these measures are based on a stronger governmental role, which some right-wing think-tanks would like to see diminished in order to increase the role of the private enterprises. Lately, there has been a serie of articles that claim that Sweden is now a right-wing country and that social-democracy does not work anymore. Most of the time, these articles offer a partial and biased view of Sweden. Some of these articles have been written by people who never set foot in Sweden or spend just a few days... Strengthening the links between Sweden and Québec would have a benefit effect on assessing what has become of the Swedish model. (see article below on the subject).
www.vigile.net/La-droite-quebecoise-fait-erreur (in French)
Bebop et Cie has been in Sweden every year since 2003 to study the Swedish model regarding public-private market development, environment, transport, gender equality.
Services available:
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Coordination of sustainable or/and public transport committees
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Analysis of social aspects of transport planning
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Conferences and workshops on
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Public-private partnerships: the Contract PPP and Consensus PPP
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Biogas as biofuel
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Gender equality and transport
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Sustainable Mobility
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Local Agenda 21 and the Ålborg Charters for the European Cities
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Publications : click here
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