The CIW is a new and better way of measuring the quality of life in Canada. It addresses the fact that Canada currently lacks a single, national instrument for tracking and reporting on our overall quality of life. Therefore we can’t track whether public policies are creating a better or worse society for ourselves and future generations. It will focus on eight important areas of life including: Living Standards, Healthy Populations, Community Vitality, Environment, Education, Time Use, Democratic Engagement, and Leisure and Culture. The GDP has emerged as a surrogate for wellbeing – when it is really just a measure of national income. As a purely economic measure, the GDP ignores a whole range of other activities that are vital to the quality of life of Canadians. The CIW aims to fill that gap by putting a value on things like educational achievement, early childhood learning, economic and personal security, a clean environment, and social and health equity. It will treat beneficial activities as assets and harmful ones as deficits. It will distinguish between economic activities that are good for our society and those that are harmful. The CIW will connect the dots between Canadians’ quality of life and public policy decisions. It will encourage policy makers to make evidence-based decisions that respond to the values and needs of Canadians in a way that improves their quality of life.