Talk of the Town

A New Social Policy for Canada in the 21st Century

Thu. May 27, 7:30-9:00 pm

With: Dr. Judith Maxwell, President of the Canadian Policy Research Networks; Dr. Jon Kesselman, SFU Public Policy Program; Doug McArthur, SFU Public Policy Program

Canadians are a people who like to believe they look after one another. To prove the point they will point to a network of social programs from Medicare to unemployment insurance to old age pensions, paid for by taxpayers. Underlying this network of social programs was a set of principles governing the roles for market, family, communities and state that were established in the post-war period, incorporated into policy in the 1950s and 1960s and have remained essentially unchanged since then.

In opening pages of a paper on Canada’s changing social landscape Catching Up to Reality: Building the Case for a New Social Model, Jane Jenson (the Director of Canadian Policy Research Networks' Family Network and the organizer and writer in CPRN’s Social Architecture series) describes how much the country has changed:

“All of the assumptions and understandings embedded in this social knowledge – and the policy designs that have followed from them – have been called into question in the last 25 years. The visions of the 1940s and the policy development of the 1960s have bumped up against the constraints of the 1980’s. Operation of globalized markets, new technologies, the knowledge-based economy and society, and other factors have forced rethinking.

Four differences in social conditions now constitute challenges to the policies designed to ensure well-being in the first three post-war decades. These are: an ageing society, new family structures, an increasingly diverse immigrant society and the intensification of challenges in Aboriginal communities.”

Under those headings, things like:

• the growing number of lone-parent families
• increased participation of women in the work force
• changing patterns of immigration
• a population that is growing older and living longer
• the deep and sustained poverty in which many Aboriginal peoples live both on reserve and in urban centres

have huge implications for social programs and their effectiveness in meeting the needs of citizens.

The Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) commissioned the Social Architecture Papers, a series of nine research reports designed to undertake a serious look at these issues. At Talk of the Town we will explore what that research tells us about our new social realities and what kind of policy directions Canada needs to pursue, with Dr. Judith Maxwell the President of CPRN. Responding to that vision will be Dr. Jon Kesselman and Doug McArthur from Simon Fraser University’s Public Policy Program.

The discussion will take place at UBC’s Robson Square campus. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604.822.5675.

Panelists

Dr. Judith Maxwell President and Founder of Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN), a new kind of think tank based on networks of researchers and policy advisors, founded in 1995. The mission of CPRN is to create knowledge and lead public debate in order to help make Canada a more just, prosperous and caring society.

She is a member of the Order of Canada, a member of the Board of Directors of BCE Inc. and has been awarded honorary degrees by seven Canadian universities. In 2003, she was named one of Canada's most powerful women by the Women's Executive Network [WXN], in the Trailblazer category and, in 2004, she was appointed one of the first Trudeau Mentors by the Trudeau Foundation.

Mrs. Maxwell has long experience in both public sector and private sector think tanks. She was Chair of the Economic Council of Canada from 1985 to 1992. Prior to 1985, she worked as a consultant, as Director of Policy Studies at the C.D. Howe Institute and as a journalist.

Dr. Jonathan R. Kesselman joined Simon Fraser University’s Public Policy Program in 2004, where he is a professor and holds the Canada Research Chair in Public Finance. He is director and principal investigator of the SSHRC/MCRI project on “Equality/Security /Community.”

He is a frequent commentator on issues of public finance, taxation, and economic policy. He has written widely on topics in taxation, income security, employment policy, and social insurance finance.

Professor Kesselman’s research has been recognized by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Professorial Fellowship in Economic Policy (1985), the Doug Purvis Memorial Prize for Canadian economic policy research (1998), and the Canadian Tax Foundation’s Douglas J. Sherbaniuk Distinguished Research Award (2002). He is a Research Fellow with the C.D. Howe Institute and serves on the editorial boards of Canadian Public Policy and the Canadian Tax Journal.

Doug McArthur joined the Public Policy Program at Simon Fraser University after his time as Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the University of British Columbia.

He was for many years a senior public servant in the British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Yukon Governments. At various times he was Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary in B.C., Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs in B.C, Chief Land Claims Negotiator in the Yukon, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Minister of Northern Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan.

He was Minister of Education in Saskatchewan from 1978 to 1982 and Chair of the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education. He currently is an advisor to the federal government on the HRDC social policy review and on fiscal federalism.

Links & Readings

Links

The Canadian Policy Research Networks

From this overview of Canada’s Changing Social Architecture you can find the list of publications in the series.

Campaign 2000

The home page of Campaign 2000, and site of a paper published May 2004, Pathways to Progress: Structural Solutions to Address Child Poverty.

Social Policy Reform in Canada

The International Development Research Centre (Canada) published 3 papers on social policy reform in 1996.