The fight to preserve universal social programs: a Canadian perspective on the great capitalist restoration.

Summary

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The capitalist system in Canada must address the challenge posed by the preservation of universal social programs which take into account the diversity of its social, economic and political milieu. The globalization of trade has caused the deterioration of universal social programs such as the health care system. Canadian society must find ways to protect its domestic social order while maintaining its global competitiveness.

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Extract

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The fight to preserve universal social programs: a Canadian perspective on the great capitalist restoration.

In 1987, Robert Gilpin spoke about the crisis of national welfare capitalism in a non-welfare international capitalist world [1987, 60-64]. That crisis is only in part a logical consequence of the integration of global markets. It is also a result of a relentless and successful campaign to shape the ideas of the people of the world. Karl Polanyi had already spoken in 1945 of a situation similar to the current one, where "groups are pushing that which is falling . . . and may even be perverting the trend to make it serve their aims" [1957, 28]. Today's "perversion of the trend" has reached epic proportions.

My objective in this paper is twofold: to chronicle the undermining of universal social programs, health care among them, that were virtually a defining characteristic of Canada among the countries of the Western Hemisphere and to reflect on the fortunes to date of the counter-movement to preserve those programs. For years, many Americans pointed to the Canadian universal health care system as a model to be ...

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