Social Policy That Works: An Agenda

Canada needs social policy that works, says new Caledon report.  “Health care is the $100 billion gorilla of Canadian public policy. We all must hope that the forthcoming report of the Romanow Commission will set out a practicable plan to tame the beast. In the meantime, the rest of social policy also cries out for reform.”  So argue Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman in Social Policy That Works: An Agenda, released today by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, an Ottawa-based think tank.  The report proposes an agenda for reconstructing much of Canadian social policy over the next decade.  Some of the ideas build on ongoing reforms – most notably those regarding children and parents. The proposals for adults are more radical and far-reaching, calling for deconstruction of the outmoded welfare system and its replacement by wage-based income security and an integrated employment and learning system for all Canadians, both working and unemployed.  The report focuses on reforms that aim in various ways to help Canadians – especially those with low incomes, less education and barriers to employment (including persons with disabilities, aboriginals and immigrants) – get and keep jobs.

ISBN – 1-55382-030-4