Through social policies such as social insurance and

through social policies such as social insurance and children's allowance
• Recommended desirable living minimum income
• Considered the most important report in the history of Canadian welfare state but was
largely ignored by Mackenzie king. Most recommendations are now law
PROGRAM EXPANSION:
Family Allowance Act (1944)
 First federal universal, non means-tested program.
 No reference to family’s income or assets
 Monthly government payment to families with children to help cover the costs of
child maintenance
Old Age Security Act (1951) (OAS)
 A universal pension of $40/month to everyone beginning at 70
Old Age Assistant Act (1951) Means tested eligibility for those aged 65-69
• Cost shared (50-50 federal and provincial), but administered by province
Canada/Quebec Pension Plan (1965)
• Wage-related supplement to Old Age Security (OAS), index to Cost of Living
Allowance (COLA); Advances concept of social minimum
CANADA ASSISTANCE PLAN (1966-1996):
 Mechanism to standardizing and funding Social Assistance nation wide
 Consolidated of cost sharing between provinces and federal government
 Means tested or Needs tested
 Historic debate ( cost of need versus fact of need ) – meet need regardless of cause of
need. Reverse the long-held belief that those in need were defective
 Rights to appeal decisions included
 Cornerstone of Canada’s social service funding until 1996 when it was replaced by
Canada’s Health and Social Transfer (Chp 3)
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WELFARE STATE PERIOD:
• Learning from Depression
• A post-war II desire for security
• Rapid industrialization and urbanization
• Acceptance of government intervention
• Introduction of variety of income security programs- Era of social welfare program
expansion
• The 1966 Canada Assistance Plan
• Family Allowance Act,1944
• The Old Age Assistance,1951; The Old Age Security Act, 1951
• The Unemployed Assistance Act, 1956

THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE
1021B
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017
LECUTRE 2
• The Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, 1965
• The Unemployment Insurance Act, 1971
ERA OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAM EROSION 1975-PRESENT:
• Neo-liberalism emerged as economic growth declined
• “Welfare state” systematically dismantled
• Corporate community influential in reducing state presence in social welfare and
lowering taxes, because “after tax corporate profits” ê
• Inflation and unemployment continued to rise during 1970s
WHAT IS NEO-LIBERALISM?
Neo-liberalism refers to :
 Withdrawal of government from market
 the dominance of markets and the market model. ( Raphael, Curry-Stevens, & Bryant,
2008).
Coburn (88) - tenets of neo-liberalism are: ( in Raphael et al., 2008. p. 227)
(1) markets are the best and most efficient allocators of resources in production and
distribution;
(2) societies are composed of autonomous individuals (producers and consumers)
motivated chiefly or entirely by material or economic considerations;
(3) competition is the major market vehicle for innovations. Such ideology sees little