From Rights to Needs
392 pages, 6 1/2 x 9
2 charts, 8 tables, and 16 b&w photos
Paperback
Release Date:01 Jul 2009
ISBN:9780774815734
Hardcover
Release Date:06 Dec 2008
ISBN:9780774815727
PDF
Release Date:01 Jul 2009
ISBN:9780774815741
GO TO CART SAMPLE CHAPTER

From Rights to Needs

A History of Family Allowances in Canada, 1929-92

UBC Press

Social security programs helped to define Canada in the twentieth century. For the generation that came of age during the Cold War, family allowances more than any other social program embodied the new national ideal. But was this program, which gave all mothers a monthly stipend to raise the nation’s babies, driven by a desire to create a kinder, gentler nation or was it more influenced by economics, constitution-making, and international trends in public policy? 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.

A comprehensive exploration of the origins and development of family allowances, From Rights to Needs will appeal to readers in the public policy community; students and scholars in political science, history, social work, and sociology; and general readers interested in the history and politics of Canadian welfare.

A comprehensive exploration of the origins and development of family allowances, From Rights to Needs will appeal to readers in the public policy community; students and scholars in political science, history, social work, and sociology; and general readers interested in the history and politics of Canadian welfare.

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
Raymond B. Blake is a professor of history at the University of Regina.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1 The Dawning of a New Era in Social Security, 1929-43

2 Family Allowances Comes to Canada, 1943-45

3 The 1944 Family Allowances Debate and The Politics of It All

4 Sharing the Wealth: The Registration for Family Allowances Begins, 1945

5 The Impact of Family Allowance to the 1960s

6 Poverty, Politics, and Family Allowances, 1960-70

7 Family Allowances and Constitutional Change, 1968-72

8 Wrestling with Universality, 1972-83

9 The Demise of Family Allowances, 1984-99

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Find what you’re looking for...

Free shipping on online orders over $40

Stay Informed

Receive the latest UBC Press news, including events, catalogues, and announcements.


Read past newsletters

Publishers Represented
UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.