Abstract
<p>Although Canada is known as a liberal welfare regime, universality is a key issue in that country, as several major social programs are universal in both their core principles and coverage rules. The objective of this article is to discuss the meaning of universality and related concepts before exploring the development of individual universal social programs in Canada, with a particular focus on health care and old-age pensions. More generally, the article shows how universality can exist and become resilient within a predominantly liberal welfare regime due to the complex and fragmented nature of modern social policy systems, in which policy types vary from policy area to policy area, and even from program to program within the same policy area. The broader analysis of health care and old-age pensions as policy areas illustrates this general claim. This analysis looks at the historical development and the politics of provincial universal health coverage since the late 1950s and at the evolution of the federal Old Age Security program since its creation in the early 1950s. The main argument of this article is that universality as a set of principles remains stronger in health care than in pensions yet key challenges remain in each of these policy areas. Another contention is that there are multiple and contested universalisms in social policy.</p>
Highlights
Universality is typically linked with the social democratic welfare regime associated with Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, universal social programs exist in the other welfare regimes, including liberal regimes (Esping-Andersen, 1990)
Social Inclusion, 2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 124–132 of universality in advanced industrial countries. Other scholars reject this idea of a “universal decline of universality,” arguing that universality remains strong in many advanced industrial countries categorized as both social democratic and liberal welfare regimes (Béland, Blomqvist, Goul Andersen, Palme, & Waddan, 2014)
The objective of this article is to contribute to this ongoing debate about the fate of social policy universality in contemporary advanced industrial societies by examining Canada, a liberal welfare regime in which universal social programs have long played a central role
Summary
Universality is typically linked with the social democratic welfare regime associated with Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden, universal social programs exist in the other welfare regimes, including liberal regimes (Esping-Andersen, 1990). Universalization refers to social processes of change in program design and service delivery, and, we suggest, comprises two related processes: discursive practices, and sequences of material and institutional processes The discursive involves such cultural activities as the growing acceptance, circulation, and influence of universal ideas, values, and discourse in public discussions and political debates. Both the discursive and material processes contribute to the institutionalization of social rights in a multinational state, constructing distinctive policy architectures of universal values and provisions, in addition to shaping the development of citizenship as a regime of entitlements and obligations This universalization operates at a number of levels of social action, from a single program such as old age pensions and broad policy areas such as universal elementary and secondary education and universal health coverage (UHC) to an overall welfare state (whether federal, provincial, or national) and society in general. It is to the two policy areas of health care and old-age pensions that we turn
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