Canadian Review of Social Policy (CRSP) / Revue canadienne de politique sociale (RCSP)

Bencz, Marjorie

as unlikely. Rather, program cuts seem the only remaining avenue after 
ten years of hacking. The Regional Colleges and Saskatchewan Institutes of 
Arts and Science face reductions as well, in programs, locations and size of 
staff. Only the details need to be filled in as federal and provincial budgeters 
decide how deeply to plunge the knife. 
Alberta Marjorie Bencz 
Edmonton Food Bank 
More than Money 
Since 1993, residents of Alberta have seen numerous changes to social wel- 
fare programs. Some of these changes include: 
eligibility conditions and benefit levels have been restricted; 
some benefits, such as transportation allowances, have been dropped 
entirely; 
appeal panels have been given less ability to make decisions which 
support the needs of a particular client; 
clients are no longer informed about their right to appeal; 
in October of 1993, rates were cut. A single person receives $394 
per month to  cover rent, food, clothing, telephone and transporta- 
tion costs. 
By 1995, Alberta's welfare caseload had dropped to 49,000, down by 
48% from January, 1993. This slashing of welfare loads is viewed as nothing 
short of miraculous in many parts of the country and is considered as a 
model for reforms. But there has not been any evaluation of the human 
impact of these changes. The goals of the welfare program, called Supports 
for Independence, have not been reviewed or publicly discussed. However, 
Social service agencies cite growing numbers of people needing food banks 
and foregoing other necessities such as children's winter clothing and baby 
formula. 
In April of 1996, the new Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) 
Plan will replace the Canada Assistance Plan. Some have expressed concern 
that welfare programs in other parts of Canada will start to look more like 
Alberta's. After all the planning and discussions in Canada about income 
security programs, it is important to remember that social policy is about 
people. It is about real people with hopes and dreams. 
Darryl Martin is a young man with hopes and dreams who lost his small 
network marketing business in Ontario. He moved to Edmonton looking for 
work, but found himself on Welfare, living at  the Y. This is an excerpt from 
100 No. 37, 1996 
Round Up/Tour d'Horizon 
a poem he submitted to a contest held by Spare Change, the Edmonton 
street paper. 
How many seek for the same position? 
A dead end, low pay reality. 
Should I give up my dreaming ambitions 
And settle in sad mediocrity? 
What grows as they pass away 
Is, where I am and could be 
If I'd money, which today 
Makes money which makes money. 
Poverty is "no money", so they say 
No money finds no food to devour 
Hunger has hid health and colour away 
Sick complexions send spirits sour. 
Poor esteem, to lower faith 
Lack of hope, is low of trust 
Dishonesty's loss of face 
Has no respect, and is cursed. 
But a little aid, give to them discussed 
Build self-esteem, for accepting truths 
From dust, must, rust just one hope helps adjust 
Towards the higher spirits light that soothes. 
As respect brings brighter face 
Not with ill, but energy 
Eat a meal, enjoying taste 
Earned their self, and glad to be. 
Martin's poem won the contest, and soon after he got a job with the Ed- 
monton Food Bank, where he is now employed. 
British Columbia Jean Swanson 
End Legislated Poverty 
Here's the bad news from BC as of March 6th: 
Last fall the government came up with a fancy plan they call BC Ben- 
efits, as well as a new law that requires people to live in BC for 3 months 
before they can get welfare. 
Poverty groups were outraged by BC Benefits and the government's 
sales pitch on it. The plan chops $46 a month from the poorest people in 
BC, single, so-called employeables. It slashes $81 a month from childless 
couples on welfare and ends the flat-rate earnings exemption for all but 
people with disabilities. This exemption allowed single parents to keep the 
No. 37,1996 101 


English

Alberta

Isaac, Barbara

Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939-63, by Frank James Tester and Peter Kulchyski

Wiggins, Cindy

Labour

Larivière, Claude

Les enjeux de la réforme des services de santé et des services sociaux au Québec

Basker, Bonnie

On the Privatization of Renal Dialysis Clinics in Ontario

Pulkingham, Jane

Continuities and Discontinuities, edited by Andrew F. Johnson, Stephen McBride, Patrick J. Smith

Leung, Joe C.B.

The Emergence of Unemployment Insurance in China: Problems and Issues

Baines, Donna

Women

Brown, Bev

Round Up/Tour d'Horizon 
pensions, and unemployment insurance. Funding will increase modestly 
with the commitment to further expansion in future years. The Health 
Fund creates a National Drug Plan for low-income families and the Child 
Care Fund would introduce a national, cost-shared child care program. A 
Higher Education Act would set national standards for post-secondary ed- 
ucation and increase student grants. 
Over 80% of spending in the AFB comes from growth in the economy, 
and lower unemployment and social assistance costs. The remaining money 
comes from making the tax system more progressive. Tax highlights include 
a wealth tax on inheritances over $1 million, a Corporate Minimum Tax, an 
Excess Profits Tax on banks, and the introduction of two new tax brack- 
ets for people with incomes over $100,000 and $150,000, respectively. The 
surtax on incomes below $20,000 would be eliminated, and a Low-Income 
Family Tax Credit would be introduced as an anti-poverty measure. 
The AFB shows that there are clear and workable alternatives. These 
alternatives are endorsed by 137 economists across the country. The labour 
movement hopes that by educating its members, and working with social 
partners, the federal government will be made accountable for the choices 
it has made a t  the expense of the vast majority of Canadians. 
Newfoundland and Labrador Bev Brown 
NAP0 Board Member 
The last few months have brought more and more Newfoundlanders together 
at demonstrations, in forums and in coalitions to protest social programme 
cutbacks that seem to roll in with every tide. We are determined to fight 
last year's delayed federal cuts, which hit Newfoundland like a cruel winter 
storm on April Fools' Day this year, a t  a time when many people are being 
cut off The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy (TAGS) and forced on to welfare 
from lack of jobs. 
About a fifth of the provincial population collected welfare in 1994, 
and this number has been climbing steadily since then. The welfare rate 
for single employable people, by far the largest group on social assistance, 
ranges from a shocking $89 to a not much more substantial $129 a month. 
Kay Young, former Minister of Social Services, was not re-elected in 
February. Shortly before the election she walked out when a petition for 
increased subsidized low-income housing was being presented by a fellow 
Liberal member in the House of Assembly. 
Bereft of creativity, our politicians only use two ploys to manipulate 
people. One is to announce a large cutback, and then chop the cut a little 
bit, which usually makes people really grateful . . . not. Premier Brian 
No. 37, 1996 9 1 
Tobin used that numbers game during the election, naturally. The other 
policy ploy also seems to be a Tobin favourite: consult the people about 
Where To Cut. Our choices, as usual, range from our noses to our knees. 
The real numbers game goes more like this: four hundred public ser- 
vants lost their jobs in December 1995. Our once-in-a-lifetime balanced 
provincial budget, which was only balanced because the province privatized 
some ferries, magically became a sixty million dollar shortfall not long after 
that. Home care was cut seven million dollars, affecting 1,500 people. Mu- 
nicipalities were cut 22% this year, which is endangering lives from lack of 
snow clearing. 
Meanwhile, back at the trough, a John Cabot five-hundred-year cele- 
bration that became the emperor's new clothes was scrapped, leaving us 
with nothing to show for the public money spent. This outrage, combined 
with a Corner Brook ski resort scam, cost taxpayers in Newfoundland ten 
million dollars! 
Recently over a hundred concerned groups and individuals formed the 
Community Alliance for Better Solutions, which became very active during 
our provincial election, and which will remain proactive during the coming 
budgets. The Alliance is pointing to the cuts in the Canada Health and 
Social Transfer as a cause of great stress in Newfoundland, and is using 
stark facts to let people know that the massive transfer of wealth to the 
rich in our society will not work to produce jobs. 
Thanks to the work of the Alliance, four hundred people came to a 
People's Forum during the election to tell politicians that the real issues are 
not hope and hype, but jobs and good social programmes. When he was 
asked to  respond, Lloyd Matthews, Minister of Health, cynically labelled 
our demands "rhetoric". What does he think, that people really want to 
starve to death and are only pret ending to want jobs? Get a life, Lloyd! 
Quebec Claude Girard 
Universiti! du Qukbec B Montrbal 
Re'forme de I'Aide Sociale au Que'bec : 
deux rapports, une m2me vision 
Ce n'est pas un mais deux rapports que le Comiti! d'experts sur la 
rkforme de l'aide sociale a rendu public en catastrophe1 , B Qukbec, le jeudi 
14 mars dernier2 . En effect, la confkrence de presse qui avait 4ti! prkvue en 
compagnie de la ministre responsable de la sQcurit6 du revenu, Louise Harel, 
fut annulhe B la dernikre minute en raison des divergences opposant les deux 
CO-pr6sidents du Comitk, l'i!conomiste Pierre Fortin et le psychologue Camil 
92 No. 37, 1996 


Newfoundland

Murphy, Cathy

Labour's Dilemma, by Pamila Sugiman

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