Review
It will be a volume that scholars of the welfare state and Canadian politics turn to in order to be reminded of who did what when and why. Reports, documents, and parliamentary debates are presented in a largely undigested form that is ideal for reference use, and for guiding anyone interested in doing further archival research on any topic touching on this broad period in Canadian political history.
– David Tough, Carleton University, H-Canada
Product Description
This book explores the family allowance phenomenon from the idea’s debut in the House of Commons in 1929 to the program’s demise as a universal program under the Mulroney government in 1992. Although successive federal governments remained committed to its underlying principle of universality, party politics, bureaucracy, federal-provincial wrangling, and the shifting priorities of citizens eroded the rights-based approach to social security and replaced it with one based on need. In tracing the evolution of one social security program within a national perspective, From Rights to Needs sheds new light on how Canada’s welfare state and social policy has been transformed over the past half century.
