Welfare State Restructuring in
Canada

General Characteristics of Welfare States
Locating the Canadian Welfare State in
Comparative Context

Characteristics of government policy designed to protect against particular risks shared by broad segments of society
Protection against loss of earnings due to unemployment, sickness, disability, or old age
Guaranteed access to healthcare, social services- childcare, eldercare, etc.
(Pierson, 2001, p.420).

LIBERAL- Canada, the United States, Australia
CORPORATIST OR CONSERVATIVE
(CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC)-
Austria, France, Germany, Italy
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC-
Scandinavian countries such as Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden

The Implementation and Restructuring of
Income Security Programs in the Canadian
Context
The 1840s - early 1990s
The 1900s -Great Depression Years of the 1930s
The 1940s - 1970s
The creation of universal benefits and services.

The assumption that men would be the primary sources of income and that women in the home would continue to be in charge of household tasks such as raising children, cooking, cleaning, etc.

Refers to the social processes & labour that go into the daily & generational maintenance of the working population.
Social Reproduction is intimately tied to the gender division of labour .

1)
2)
3)
3 components were central to the welfare state:
THE STATE’S ROLES combined with
VERY GENDERED FAMILY NORMS which
SUPPORTED THE FUNCTIONINGS OF
THE MARKET

Men’s income maintenance determined through claims as earners
Women’s claims made on the basis of domestic work & rely more heavily on public assistance & means and incometested programs

“the social processes through which cultural meanings come to be associated with sexual difference and the ways in which sexual difference forms the basis for social exclusions and constitutes inequalities in power, authority, rights, and privileges” (Fudge and Vosko, 2003, p.185).

The particular structural position that people of colour & particularly new immigrants to Canada occupy in society & the labour market & which makes them more vulnerable to adverse effects or marginalization

Women comprise over ½ of all people living below the poverty line. They have a higher incidence of low income than men, especially among single mothers, elderly, & unattached women.
Compared to men, women receive a larger part of their total income from income security programs. Women are more dependent on social welfare spending & public programs & are those most affected by restructuring.

Privatization & welfare cuts means that social services are shifted from the paid work of women in the public sector to the unpaid work of women in the domestic sphere.
Shifts in the labour market produce few good jobs for men, women, and new immigrants to Canada

Women are disproportionately assigned to lowwage, contingent work & have a greater burden of unpaid care & domestic work
There have been serious reductions in childcare, education, and retraining programs & policy shifts work against the possibility of women obtaining autonomy or independence from exploitative situations

Shifts in Income Security Related to
Unemployment Insurance
Shifting Employment Norms
Changes to Child Benefits &
Childcare Policies
&
A Brief History of Migrant Domestic Work in Canada as it Relates to Childcare

Targeted Social Assistance
Challenges to Collective Bargaining
A Move to Employment Flexibility
Reduction in the Coverage and Value of
Welfare State Benefits
Abandonment of a Full Employment Policy
Privatization of State Owned Industries

Motivation and Justification for Social
Assistance Restructuring
Underlying Ideology – Neo-Liberalism
Neo-Liberalism vs. The Welfare State

Economic downturn of the 1970’s and early 1980’s as demonstrating the ineffectiveness of the Keynesian Welfare
State.
A reassertion of the dominance of capital interests and the idea of ‘individual’ liberty.

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/newecn/Classes/Art/INT1/Mac/1980s/1980sA.html

Welfare State Restructuring premised on the precepts of Neo-Liberalism,
“The process of consolidating Neo-liberalism as a hegemonic paradigm has involved both the construction of a new governing consensus, involving the replacement of notions of social solidarity with the ideals of global competitiveness and individual responsibility, and the creation of conditions that make it increasingly difficult to mount an effective challenge.”
-- McKeen and Porter

Wendy Brown Definition:
“Neo-Liberalism…
1. Depicts free markets, free trade and entrepreneurial rationality as achieved and normative, as promulgated through law and through social and economic policy…
2. Political and social spheres as appropriately dominated by market concerns…[and]
3. Produces governance criteria along the same lines, that is, criteria of productivity and profitability.”
- American Nightmare: Neo-Liberalism,
Neo-Conservatism, and De-Democratization.

Neo-Liberalism as different from Classical
Liberalism in that in presents markets as normative and achieved, as opposed to natural.
Depoliticizing Nature – decisions dictated by cost-benefit rationale, not popular will.
All encompassing nature makes it difficult to offer meaningful resistance.
– e.g. the behavior of NDP over the past 15 years, the advent of the ‘third-way.’

The Welfare State
Collectivization of Risk/Gain
Maintenance of Individual purchasing power, through government spending, in order to sustain economic development and growth.
Belief in partial market failures/inability of markets to assign true costs.
Increased government expenditure
Neo-Liberalism
Individuation of Risk/Gain
Commodification of all goods and services in order to assign true values and allocate appropriate amounts of resources
Belief in the efficiency of market allocation and value assignment.
Decreased Government expenditure

“Increase in poverty, inequality, and hardship, particularly among certain groups.”
Individuation of interaction with the marketplace.
‘Two Tiered’ social services – Restricted
Eligibility.
Targeted programs resulting in increased social stigma.
Human Cost.

Opening up of new markets.
Reduction in Barriers to Capital Mobility.
Increased Development in Under-
Developed Countries.
Continued Economic Growth – Production
Maximization.
Increased Freedom – ‘Meritocracy.’

Productivity and Profitability criteria result in the attempt to commodify the intangible.
Increased concentration of capital, coupled with decreased regulatory ability.
Continued decline in real wages.
Further practical barriers to equality.
De-legitimation of democratic governance.

Comparative index of Welfare State
Welfare vs. Workfare
Workfare
1.State role is important for social reproduction
2.Most of the programs were Universal
3.Poverty was considered social problem
9. Reason, everyone enjoyed equal rights.
10. It created “tough love” for some peoples.
1.Family and individual role is important to maintain social reproduction
2.Most of the programs are targeted
3. Poverty is now individual failures.
4.Social assistance eligibility respect democratic Values
4. Social assistance is completely selective under new “Service Delivery Model.”
5.It was designed to keep unemployment in low level
6.Administrative procedures were more easier and easily accessible
5. Unemployment is no more social problem.
Market and Individual are responsible for employment.
6. It is lengthy and penalizing.
7.For benefits , engaged in work was not a mandatory
8.It was focused on Individual development
7. Voluntary work, participate in any training programs is mandatory.
8. It is focused on economic development with compare other countries
9. Women, particularly poor women, minorities and their families are marginalized and in poverty.
10.It encourages people to be active for own good and for society

(alternate version)

False Creek Urgent Care Centre
Clinic Owner Dr. Mark Godley has argued that, “The Constitution trumps everything and this is about a person’s personal rights to be able to gain access to timely health care and this is about providing people with choice”

This Statement outlines an individuated view of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
– Is this an accurate interpretation of the Charter ?
– If so, are there alternate legitimate interpretations?
– If not, what is a legitimate interpretation of the Charter with regard to healthcare? Is there one?
Arguably, this statement is indicative of the trend toward marketization of (formerly) social services?
– Is healthcare something that should be subject to marketization? Why/Why Not?
– Are there any services which constitute a basic need and should be administered by the state?