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Monique Jérôme-Forget, "Canada's Social Union: Staking Out the Future of Federalism" Sorry, a summary of this article is not available. Anne McLellan, "Modernizing Canada's Social Union: A New Partnership Among Governments and Citizens" The current discussions on Canada's social union are about strengthening the social partnership among governments and between governments and citizens. The Government of Canada believes a new partnership should have three objectives: promoting equality of opportunity for Canadians; improving collaboration among governments to serve Canadians better; and enhancing accountability to Canadians for the results achieved. The Minister argues that any social union framework agreement must meet three fundamental tests. Does it work for Canadians? Does it respect the Constitution? Will it lead to better cooperation among governments? Roy Romanow, "Reinforcing 'The Ties That Bind'" The Canadian social union has been challenged in recent years by the unilateral actions of Ottawa. According to the Minister, Ottawa should have worked with the provinces in redesigning the federal transfer system instead of unilaterally imposing a $6 billion cutback, as it did in its 1995 budget. There is a national consensus on the need for national standards in social programs, and the federal government's spending power has a role to play in protecting them. But the federal government can smother provincial experimentation by unilaterally setting up social programs or by unilaterally cutting funds for shared-cost programs. Finding the right balance is the main challenge facing those who are negotiating the framework agreement on the Canadian social union. Joseph Facal, "Pourquoi le Québec a adhéré au consensus des provinces sur l'union sociale" The government of Quebec has for five decades consistently opposed the federal government's use of its spending power in areas of provincial jurisdiction. This text explains the importance for Quebec of obtaining a right of opting out with full compensation for any new or modified program initiated by the federal government in domains coming under Quebec's jurisdiction. Quebec has been able to support the provincial consensus on the Framework Agreement on the Social Union because it calls for opting out with full compensation. Dianne Cunningham, "Ontario's Approach to Improving Canada's Social Union" Canadians and their governments need to find ways to preserve the positive aspects of our federal system and to contain the negative effects of unilateral actions. In the Minister's view, a framework agreement on the social union can be an instrument for doing just that. A framework that puts a premium on intergovernmental collaboration and establishes a fair set of rules to encourage responsible behaviour on the part of governments could lead to better social programs, less federal-provincial conflict, and a more accountable and democratic political system. David Hancock, "Designing a New Social Framework for Canadians" A new federal-provincial-territorial relationship in which Canada's governments cooperate, rather than compete, is a key to improved social programs for Canadians. We need to define a new partnership to protect Canada's social programs for the future. This new partnership should: provide clarification of the respective roles and responsibilities of governments; ensure accountability to Canadians; respect the jurisdictions of the two levels of government; provide adequate financial support for social programs; and ensure flexibility in the design and delivery of programs, so that they respond to the needs of each province. The social union framework is aimed at accomplishing these goals. Camille Thériault, "New Brunswick's Perspective on the Social Union" New Brunswick supports a strong role for the federal government in planning, funding and managing Canada's social union. But we also believe that a strong federal role is still compatible with the achievement of the objectives of provinces and territories. A key element is flexibility. Another key element is funding. The federal government must be prepared to commit to adequate and stable funding for social programs. It must restore funding for core social programs, such as health care, before considering new programs. Kevin Ng and David R. Sloan, "Reforming Canada's Social Union: The Territorial Perspective" Governments in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and eventually Nunavut have the same responsibilities and authority as provincial governments to provide social programs and services to their residents. Providing these programs and services in the territories is especially challenging because of the high costs associated with delivery to rural and remote communities, the special needs of Aboriginal residents, and the role of Aboriginal governments in shaping and delivering social programs and services. For the territories, a social union framework cannot separate, on the one hand, responsibility for provision of programs and services and, on the other hand, the fiscal arrangements which provide the capacity necessary to deliver comparable programs and services. Alain Nöel, "Les trois unions sociales" Originally introduced to affirm the unity Canada achieved through its social programs, the concept of social union gradually came to denote an intergovernmental process for the management of less generous, less unified social policies. In August 1998, the signing of an agreement including Quebec give a third meaning to the concept, casting it as a way of promoting the autonomous development of provincial social policy models. Now, all can claim to be promoting social union while talking of very different options. As such, the concept is no longer very useful. Still, it has the advantage of highlighting the fact that the debates among the provinces and the federal government concern more than just the sharing of powers and costs. The multi-level conflict among these governments involves contrasting visions of the federation and of social policy. In the short and medium term, none of these visions is likely to win out. The August 1998 interprovincial consensus nevertheless takes the debate along a new path, quite different from the one envisioned by the initial promoters of the idea of a social union. Thomas Courchene, "In Praise of Provincial Ascendancy" The author welcomes the enhanced role that premiers are playing in addressing cross-province spillovers and in articulating a pan-Canadian vision through a revitalized and re-oriented Annual Premiers Conference. Creative policy leadership and dynamism on the social policy front has shifted from Ottawa to the provinces. But more is needed. Ottawa must buy into this process and accept a greater level of collaboration with the provinces on the social union. And, in order to address the criticism that premiers are simply making a power grab, the provinces must soon deliver some meaningful substance to match their pan-Canadian rhetoric. Keith Banting, "Social Citizenship and the Social Union in Canada" There is a danger that the current negotiations over the social union will be driven exclusively by those hardy perennials of Canadian federalism, money and power. These issues need to be balanced by concerns over the substance of social policy and our sense of a common social citizenship. In particular, it is critical that we not jeopardize the prospects for pan-Canadianism in social policy as we set new decision rules for the social union. This article argues for the preservation of the federal government's right to make direct transfers to citizens without the formal approval of provincial governments. And while there is a need for greater joint decision-making over federal-provincial programs, it is important not to create such a complex set of rules that no future federal politicians will ever opt for the federal-provincial option. Robin Boadway, "Delivering the Social Union: Some Thoughts on the Federal Role" We should be extremely cautious about emasculating the federal government's use of the spending power. The spending power is an indispensable policy instrument for the federal government to pursue its legitimate economic, social and constitutional obligations, obligations which only the federal government can fulfil. If properly used, the spending power is a sine qua non of an efficiently and equitably functioning decentralized federation. The real issue is how to harness its use. John Richards, "The 'Unholy Alliance' versus 'Securing Our Future Together'" A tough constraint on the federal spending power in the domain of social programs is a good idea. Adding a federal-provincial dispute settlement mechanism also makes sense. More should be done to remove provincial barriers to interprovincial mobility. We should give a much higher profile to social policy evaluations, and the pressure that information can bring to bear on improving performance. Ottawa should resist pleas from the provinces to restore the pre-1995 generosity of intergovernmental transfers and, instead, make greater use of the equalization program to assist provinces in providing reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation. Harvey Lazar, "The Social Union: Taking the Time to Do it Right" The author discusses three issues related to the recent proposals for a new Canada-wide social policy framework. Will such a framework lead to more effective social policy by providing better-integrated and more coherent programs that remain responsive to shifting needs and requirements? Will the proposals strengthen or weaken the Canadian federation politically, in the sense that Canadians will see them as fair and reasonable to both orders of government and respectful of their assigned roles under the constitution? How will such a framework agreement affect our democratic institutions? G.C. Ruggeri, "Vertical Fiscal Imbalances and Renewed Federalism" The federal surplus is forecast to grow rapidly. The federal government seems intent on using this new spending power to bypass the provinces and expand its partnership with individuals, the Millennium Scholarship Fund being but one example. This approach might be justified if it produced large equity and efficiency gains. For the author, there is no evidence of such potential gains. He would, instead, use the fiscal dividend to partly restore transfers to the provinces, and convert the CHST to personal income tax points. The federal government should facilitate the efficient coordination of federal and provincial policies rather than imposing centralist solutions. François Vaillancourt, "Alter the Federal-Provincial Powers Mix to Improve Social Policy" The efficiency grounds for giving Ottawa or the provinces greater control over social programs vary from one program to another. The author makes a case for the federal government formally withdrawing from health care and ceding the necessary tax room to the provinces. The whole field of income support could be taken over by Ottawa by a constitutional amendment giving it responsibility for welfare. With regard to post-secondary education, the most appropriate solution would be for provincial governments outside Quebec to agree to an interprovincial equalization scheme in higher education with provinces benefiting from an inflow of university graduates paying part of the cost of the human capital thus acquired. Paul Boothe, "Is it Time to Reform Fiscal Transfers?" The Equalization program is up for its regular five-year review. The author would use the occasion to make major changes to the fiscal transfer system. The current system has serious efficiency, equity, transparency and accountability deficiencies. He proposes that the federal government transfer to the provinces personal income tax points equal to the current size of fiscal transfers. Initially, an interprovincial pool would be created from contributions from the provinces determined by their current budgetary situations. A simplified macro formula would be used to determine contributions and withdrawals. The federal government would act as guarantor and administrator of the pool. Michael Baker, Abigail Payne, and Michael Smart, "The Impact of Federal Fiscal Arrangements: Evidence from the 'Cap on CAP'" The 1990s have been a period of fundamental reforms to federal transfers for social assistance. Some would argue there has been a corresponding erosion in federal influence over social policy in Canada. The question to consider is whether transfer arrangements influence the spending decisions of provincial governments. The authors examine a reform of the Canada Assistance Program in the early 1990s and find that while it led to a discernible decrease in the growth rate of provincial social assistance spending, the magnitude of the effect appears modest. Monique Jérôme-Forget and Claude E. Forget, "Who is the Master" Sorry, a summary of this article is not available. |
