SOS ON YEAR 2000: ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ''AT RISK''
TORONTO, Feb. 3 /CNW/ - Canadian executives must act - and do it now, as
the entire Canadian supply chain is at risk due to the so-called millennium
bug, Task Force Year 2000 members said today.
''The time for talk is over,'' said Jean C. Monty, Chairman of the Task
Force Year 2000 and President and Chief Operating Officer of BCE Inc. ''Our
Number One recommendation is to urge executives who have not already done so
to immediately implement a formal action plan for Year 2000 preparedness. This
has become a national priority.''
Mr. Monty made the comments at a news conference held to release the Task
Force Year 2000 report, A Call for Action. The Task Force of 14 chief
executives was originally planning to make its report public in the spring,
but moved up the deadline by four months because of the urgent situation.
THE REPORT CONTAINS 18 RECOMMENDATIONS, INCLUDING:
- that formal action plans be shared by all trade partners associated
with Canada's national supply chain;
- that private and public financial institutions actively promote with
their stakeholders the availability of formal action plans;
- that a tax-neutral initiative be introduced to encourage small-and
medium-sized companies to act immediately;
- that Parliaments, at all levels, bring enhanced public scrutiny to the
country's state of preparedness.
The Task Force also unveiled a major national communications campaign,
focused on a new logo: SOS-2000. ''The campaign is purposely forceful to send
a clear and resounding message to all executives that there is no economic or
financial advantage to waiting - in fact, the opposite is true,'' said Mr.
Monty. ''Act Now!''
The news conference brought together a coalition of leading business
groups - the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI), the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the Conference Board of Canada, the
Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
(CICA), and the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) - to
reinforce the gravity of the threat posed by the fact that most computer
programs are not designed to accommodate the transition to the Year 2000.
Today's release includes final survey results from Statistics Canada
confirming that all sectors of the Canadian economy have a long way to go to
be prepared. That study is reinforced by a Conference Board publication, Viewpoint,
also released today. That report concludes that although well-prepared firms
stand to make significant gains against those that are not, all could be lost
if their suppliers and trade partners are not also ready. ''The current
economic outlook for 2000 is now at risk because too many businesses have
failed to start the repair and replacement of technology,'' said Dr. Jim
Frank, the Board's Chief Economist.
For its part, the CFIB will mail a copy of the Year 2000: Technology
Checklist for Small Business to its 88,000 members, and will communicate
information to them via its Web site. ''Small companies have to realize that
this is a real problem which requires immediate action,'' said CFIB President
Catherine Swift.
As background to the Task Force's work, the ITAC reviewed international
initiatives. ''Our study suggests that the countries that are responding to
the challenge most effectively are those whose industries and governments are
working together to ensure that critical systems will continue to function,''
said ITAC President and Chief Executive Officer Gaylen A. Duncan. ''We fully
endorse the Task Force recommendations and will continue to convey the message
to our industry and stakeholders to ''Act Now!''
''The BCNI will act on the Task Force's recommendation to take the lead
in developing links with U.S. and other international business leaders to
address trans-border strategic issues,'' said John E. Cleghorn, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Bank of Canada. Mr. Cleghorn spoke on
behalf of the BCNI, as a member of its policy committee.
The Task Force will reconvene in May to assess progress on the computer
date problem, or millennium bug, which will play havoc when the date changes
from 1999 to 2000, affecting hardware and software, desktop computers and
networks, and microprocessor chips that control transportation, machinery,
office equipment, lights, building climate and security systems, inventory,
records management, and manufacturing processes, to name a few.
Businesses can obtain copies of the Task Force report and publications at
strategis.ic.gc.ca or by calling 1 800 270-8220. The toll-free
number for the Telecommunications Device for the Hearing Impaired is 1 800
465-7735.
TASK FORCE YEAR 2000
RECOMMENDATIONS
TASK FORCE YEAR 2000 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. A formal action plan for Year 2000 preparedness, if not already in
place, should be immediately implemented by every business leader,
chief executive officer, president and business owner. This plan
should include, at a minimum:
- inventory of all systems
- assessment of systems
- conversion or replacement
- testing
- contingency plans
- key partners' preparedness
2. Formal action plans and progress reports should be made available by
all trade partners associated with the Canadian national supply chain,
with due consideration to the particular commercial and legal
circumstances of each business.
3. All lending institutions, whether federally or provincially regulated,
should immediately require the availability of a formal Year 2000
action plan from corporate borrowers as a prerequisite for loans, with
a target implementation date of April 1, 1998.
4. 1) The insurance community should provide its corporate clients with
early notification of the importance of the Year 2000 issue and of
the requirement for the availability of a formal Year 2000 action
plan.
2) The insurance community should make the issuance/renewal of an
insurance policy contingent on the availability of a formal action
plan.
5. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants should finalize and
publicly distribute its two guidelines regarding financial statement
disclosure of Year 2000 issues on an urgent basis.
6. 1) All securities commissions, during 1998 and 1999, should review at
a minimum a 20 percent representative sample of annual reports of
the companies they regulate to determine if, in fact, companies
reported on Year 2000 issues in their management discussion and
analysis (MD&A), and to assess the appropriateness of the
disclosure.
2) All securities commissions, either as a matter of regulatory
mandate or administrative policy, should promote Year 2000
preparedness as a consideration in the due diligence process
associated with mergers and acquisitions.
7. National, provincial and regional associations should immediately take
a more proactive awareness and support role on Year 2000 preparedness
and publicly report on initiatives taken, if they have not yet done
so.
8. The Business Council on National Issues should address the Year 2000
challenge, and particularly its effect on strategic Canada/US business
linkages. The focus of such a bilateral initiative would be on
mission-critical economic sectors and issues.
9. 1) All businesses, in their public communications and marketing
campaigns should:
a) promote the implementation of the recommendations formulated by
the Task Force to both private- and public-sector authorities;
b) aggressively reach out to the various components in the supply
chain, demonstrating that they are preparing for the Year 2000
challenge and are expecting the same involvement from their
trading partners.
2) All national media should continue to address and communicate
issues that are related to Year 2000 preparedness in Canada.
10.1) The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts should
continue to scrutinize the evolution of the state of preparedness
of federal government systems.
2) Provincial legislative bodies should initiate a similar transparent
process through which provincial institutions would report
regularly on progress achieved.
3) Provincial authorities should ensure that municipal authorities put
in place transparent reporting mechanisms.
4) Municipal authorities should take the initiative to immediately
implement transparent reporting mechanisms.
11. All levels of government should require their lending bodies/programs
to make the existence of a formal Year 2000 action plan a condition
for securing grants, contributions, loans and loan guarantees, where
applicable.
12. Before introducing legislation or regulatory changes, all levels of
government should consider the impact they may have in terms of
reprogramming information systems and diverting resources away from
Year 2000 preparedness efforts.
13. Regulators at all levels of government should:
1) complete, by April 1, 1998, an assessment of the impacts that Year
2000 computer failures in their regulated industries would have on
their regulatory objectives;
2) revise, where appropriate, their compliance assessment procedures;
and
3) exert, wherever possible, moral suasion on the importance of Year
2000 preparedness.
14. The governments of Canada and Quebec should adopt immigration laws,
regulations and policies to create a specific category of temporary
employment authorization permitting persons with specialized Year
2000 skills and experience to work in Canada exempt from the
employment validation process, thereby permitting foreign workers to
secure such temporary employment authorization directly at a port of
entry.
15. The federal government should consider introducing revenue-neutral
tax encouragement measures with a primary focus on small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as early as possible.
16. In all jurisdictions, government departments and agencies that are in
a position to influence businesses should disseminate and facilitate
access to Year 2000 information and support services, including Task
Force material.
17. 1) Canadian and provincial legislative bodies should hold public
hearings, inviting national or regional associations, relevant
government authorities and others able to exert influence on the
private sector, to report on their efforts to encourage their
constituencies to meet the Year 2000 challenge with formal action
plans.
2) The Task Force report and recommendations should be brought to the
attention of the Prime Minister and the provincial premiers.
18. Statistics Canada should be requested to repeat its survey of
preparedness in April 1998, in order to provide the Task Force with
an opportunity in May 1998 to assess the progress achieved, both on
the state of preparedness of Canadian businesses and on the timely
implementation of its recommendations to that point.
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For further information: Odette Trottier, Optimum Public Relations, Montr‚al, (514) 282-4759, otrottier@cossette.com, Colleen Finnegan,
Optimum Public Relations, Toronto, (416) 922-3050, cfinnegan@cossette.com, Lisa Reifenberg, Optimum Public Relations, Vancouver, (604)
662-4560 lreifenberg@cossette.com, source: Jocelyne Nadon, Task Force Year 2000 Secretariat, (613) 991-0029
TASK FORCE YEAR 2000 has 11 releases in this database.
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