Social Welfare in Canada provides an overview of the income security system in Canada, its development, programs, and the major policy debates. It is intended for those seeking an understanding of the many income security programs and policies, how they fit together, and how they work (or fail to work) in practice. This volume on income security is a companion to Social Work in Canada (also by Steve Hick), which focuses on the social services side of the Canadian welfare system. Together, the two books provide a comprehensive survey of the two components of the welfare system, the wide-ranging policy debates taking place over the role that the welfare system should play, and the many challenges facing it today.
The Canada Pension Plan disability benefit is a monthly payment available to disabled citizens who have contributed to the CPP and are unable to work regularly at any job. Covering the program’s origins, early implementation, liberalization of benefits, and more recent restraint and reorientation of this program, Struggling for Social Citizenship is the first detailed examination of the single largest public contributory disability plan in the country. Focusing on broad policy trends and program developments and highlighting the role of cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, public servants, policy advisors, and other political actors, Michael Prince examines the pension reform agendas and records of the Pearson, Trudeau, Mulroney, Chrétien, Martin, and Harper prime ministerial eras. Shedding light on the immediate world of applicants and clients of the CPP disability benefit, this study reviews academic literature and government documents, features interviews with officials, and provides an analysis of administrative data regarding trends in expenditures, caseloads, decisions, and appeals related to CPP disability benefits. Struggling for Social Citizenship looks into the ways in which disability has been defined in programs and distinguished from ability in given periods, how these distinctions have operated, been administered, contested and regulated, as well as how, through income programs, disability is a social construct and administrative category. Weaving together literature on social policy, political science, and disability studies, Struggling for Social Citizenship produces an innovative evaluation of Canadian citizenship and social rights.
Seven experts, representing a variety of disciplinary perspectives, discuss specific reform efforts in a number of social welfare policy areas and identify the jurisdictional fremework of policy-making in Canada's federal system as a factor of significantly affects these efforts.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of providing a basic income to everyone in Canada who needs it was already gaining broad support. Then, in response to a crisis that threatened to put millions out of work, the federal government implemented new measures which constituted Canada?s largest ever experiment with a basic income for almost everyone. In this new and revised edition, Evelyn L. Forget offers a clear-eyed look at how these emergency measures could be transformed into a program that ensures an adequate basic income for every Canadian. Forget details what we can learn from earlier basic income experiments in Canada and internationally. She weighs the options, investigates whether Canadians can afford a permanent basic income program and describes how it could best be implemented across the country. This accessible book offers everything a reader needs to decide if a basic income program is the right follow-up to the short-term government response to COVID-19.
Inequality is up. Decent work is down. Free market fundamentalism has been exposed as a tragic failure. In a job market upended by COVID-19—with Canadians caught in the grip of precarious labour, stagnant wages, a climate crisis, and the steady creep of automation—an ever-louder chorus of voices calls for a liveable and obligation-free basic income. Could a basic income guarantee be the way forward to democratize security and intervene where the market economy and social programs fail? Jamie Swift and Elaine Power scrutinize the politics and the potential behind a radical proposal in a post-pandemic world: that wealth should be built by a society, not individuals. And that we all have an unconditional right to a fair share. In these pages, Swift and Power bring to the forefront the deeply personal stories of Canadians who participated in the 2017–2019 Ontario Basic Income Pilot; examine the essential literature and history behind the movement; and answer basic income’s critics from both the right and left.
The first major reference work of its kind in the social welfare field in Canada, this volume is a selected bibliography of works on Canadian social welfare policy. The entries in Part One treat general aspects of the origins, development, organization, and administration of the welfare state in Canada; included is a section covering basic statistical sources. The entries in Part Two treat particular areas of policy such as unemployment, disabled persons, prisons, child and family welfare, health care, and day care. Also included are an introductory essay reviewing the literature on social welfare policy in Canada, a "User's Guide," several appendices on archival materials, and an extensive chronology of Canadian social welfare legislation both federal and provincial. The volume will increase the accessibility of literature on the welfare state and stimulate increased awareness and further research. It should be of wide interest to students, researchers, librarians, social welfare policy analysts and administrators, and social work practitioners.
The budget includes measures to better target tax assistance for retirement savings. This document looks at various issues such as the sustainability of Canada's retirement income system (Old Age Security program, sustainability, implications of rising public pension costs, & principles for change of the OAS/GIS (guaranteed income supplement)); and at the Seniors Benefit (structure & operation of the new system, impact, examples of the new system). Annexes project levels of the Seniors Benefit in 5 years & for those age 60 & over.
Financial constraints as well as concern over the effectiveness of certain policies are prompting a re-examination of government programs aimed at assisting the disadvantaged in society.
In developed countries, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased in recent years, reversing a decades-long pattern of decline. Participation rates for older women have also been rising. What explains these patterns, and the differences in them across countries? The answers to these questions are pivotal as countries face fiscal and retirement security challenges posed by longer life-spans. This eighth phase of the International Social Security project, which compares the social security and retirement experiences of twelve developed countries, documents trends in participation and employment and explores reasons for the rising participation rates of older workers. The chapters use a common template for analysis, which facilitates comparison of results across countries. Using within-country natural experiments and cross-country comparisons, the researchers study the impact of improving health and education, changes in the occupation mix, the retirement incentives of social security programs, and the emergence of women in the workplace, on labor markets. The findings suggest that social security reforms and other factors such as the movement of women into the labor force have played an important role in labor force participation trends.
