ABSTRACT
Sustainable development strategies go back to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro 1992. More than 150 countries participated in this unique summit and, by signing the Rio Declaration, committed themselves to integrating the principles of economic, social and ecological sustainability into their policy strategies and measures. Strategies for sustainable development aim at steering processes and measures for economic development so as to generate positive social and environmental outcomes and to avoid or limit possible negative impacts. From the perspective of strategic planning this requires that social and environmental variables and goals are integrated from the start into economic policymaking. Canada started with an innovative whole-of-government approach in the 1990s and has arrived at a stage today where sustainable development is again under the responsibility of the environment ministry. The same Act also created the position of the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development at the Auditor General.
