The Carney government recently announced that they will be tabling their first federal budget on November 4th. Already, they have made vocal commitments to increased defence-spending and focusing on “nation-building” projects, which will likely include environmentally destructive builds such as new pipelines.
This is blatant disregard for today’s ongoing cost of living and climate crisis. If Canadians remembered the welfare state we once had, perhaps they would be more up in arms about how this government has already chosen to prioritize profit over people.
Canada’s welfare state: then and now
The welfare state, a not-too-long-ago point in Canada’s history, was a system whereby the government, with its own budget and the use of taxes, provided initiatives reflective of principles focused on equal access for all. For a brief, shining moment, Canada had a chance to solidify itself as a state grounded in accessibility to free universal and public services.
Social programs at this time included, among many, the Guaranteed Income Supplement. It increased funding to improve income security for those who were unable to provide for themselves, specifically single parents and disabled people. The welfare state was the only time where the government provided tangible financial support without the immense bureaucratic barriers and systemic harm we experience today.
Today, as we see more defunding of our social service sector, in conjunction with the growing climate of unaffordability of housing, food, and healthcare, it is important for people to understand the history of why such choices continue to be made within government and what alternative choices could be made to prevent the ultimate collapse of society’s welfare.
So, how have we forgotten about the welfare state, when it was such a pivotal time? And why has the concept of state provided welfare turned from essential policy for everyone to a racist, ableist, and overall oppressive narrative of “undeserved charity” for “undeserving poor” and marginalized groups?
Enter neoliberalism
The concept originally proposed by the welfare state, that those who are chronically or temporarily struggling should be provided with tangible supports from their government, was eradicated by neoliberalism, which instead focuses on expanding capitalist growth by placing the market economy at the center of government policies — all at the expense of the needs of citizens.
Neoliberalism’s deepest impact on society is that poverty has become both normalized and essential to Canada’s status quo, rather than seen as an inevitable failure from governments that continue to see people merely as profit. This intentional class division has become more integral to our identity as a country than ever before.
The reluctance of Canadians to accept this reality stems from our collective ingrained passivity towards understanding realities outside our individualistic bubbles. Government leaders, in tandem with our monopolized mainstream media, have persistently flooded our lives with propaganda that social services which mainly benefit certain “undeserving” poor people (i.e. non-white, disabled, queer, trans, substance users, the homeless, the elderly and more) are not worth spending taxpayer or government budget money on.
This messaging leads to the large-scale criminalization of poor people, and to the privatization and defunding of health and social services within our country, making them highly ineffective and inaccessible for many.
Neoliberalism has decimated our collective understanding of what it means for a government to serve all people, and to build mutual aid and community. It has led to the aggressive decline in social welfare services, and to the false narrative that our economic stability can only be built upon the intentional neglect of those who are most vulnerable.
A different approach is possible
As the Liberal government gears up to announce their budget plans, Canadians must remember that a different approach is possible: we do not need to settle for the tired and ineffective status quo that has been our reality until now. We both can and must demand better from political leaders.
It is imperative for us to accurately identify poverty as an unnecessary societal anomaly and recognize that under neoliberalism, poverty is simply the result of a system functioning as intended.
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