A SOCIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK WHAT IT COULD MEAN

A SOCIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK: WHAT IT COULD MEAN FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA Remarks to the Board Voice Society of BC 5 th Annual Conference, Richmond November 29, 2014 Michael J. Prince

MY MAIN MESSAGES A Social Policy Framework (SPF) is about the role of the provincial state and public sector in the economy and society and lives of people BC has a social policy framework in effect of a particular kind A comprehensive SPF implies more elaborate networked relationships and emphasis on the interplay between economic and social developments In addition to values, goals and processes, a SPF is about budgets and a fiscal framework 2

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF A SOCIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK A social policy framework is shaped by assumptions, beliefs and claims about the appropriate relationships among: Governments Families Communities and regions Indigenous nations Markets and employers Workers and the unemployed Unions Schools, colleges and universities Health care arrangements Justice systems 3

BC ALREADY HAS A SOCIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK BC government does have an overarching agenda that guides social programs: Liberal Party 2013 election platform Premier’s mandate letters to cabinet ministers Speech from the Throne Budget Plans Key principles: low taxation; private sector growth and jobs; natural resource development; educated and skilled workforce; sustainable health care Some negative consequences: many social issues are marginalized handmaiden to economic development yet social and economic policies disconnected policy drift and failure to adapt to changing realties 4

WHAT A COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL POLICY FRAMEWORK INVOLVES Improving democratic processes of communication, consultation, and engagement Building relationships and capacities within and across policy communities and organized groups of people Sharing ideas, issues, information and solutions Monitoring and addressing interactions in the goals, activities, and outcomes between economic developments and human/social developments Identifying in an explicit fashion the core values and goals of social policy 5

A FRAMEWORK IS ABOUT MONEY Not only values, processes, and relationships, social policy is about financial resources “Money won’t buy change, but change is impossible without money. ” Rt. Hon. Paul Martin A Social Policy Framework must interrelate with the province’s fiscal framework: the macro-economic policies of revenues and expenditures, loans and borrowings Issues of tax choices and tax reform, spending priorities and choices, program (re)designs 6

MOVING FORWARD Getting the message out broadly to a diverse range of groups and mobilizing support Drawing attention to the costs and limitations of the current approach to social policy Making the case for a smarter way of addressing issues, meeting human needs, preventing and reducing problems, building opportunities 7