Care for older people in Canada's resilient liberal welfare regime

Jane Jenson

Chapter 23 in Research Handbook on Social Care Policy, 2025, pp 364-379 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Canada is one of the liberal welfare regimes, whose defining characteristics are a preference for market solutions to welfare problems. Levels of social spending are, however, only one indicator of a welfare type. Programme design also matters, and it is therefore necessary to consider the details of specific social policies and programmes. This chapter examines social care for older people in Canada, which is a federal regime with 13 different subnational jurisdictions. While the Government of Canada shapes the healthcare system, the subnational governments decide and deliver programmes. Despite variation across space and time, the principles organizing the policy domain have exhibited remarkable resilience for more than half a century. Social care remains a classic liberal social policy, favouring market dominance, private provision and means-testing for public services. In addition to limited public service provision, there is also reliance on policy instruments that deliver benefits through the tax system.

Keywords: Social care; Canada; Quebec; Older people; Liberal welfare regime; Long-term care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781839103681
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