Middle Class Entitlements

One major reason that government expenditures have climbed so precipitously over the last 40 years and put us in such bad debt are what are referred to as middle-class entitlements. These are, in essence, subsidies to the middle-class in Canadian society, whether for health care, education, Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan payments, baby bonus payments, arts subsidies, etc. that benefit the middle class.

When various social programs were being established in the 1960s, policy makers thought at the time that these would be better received by the Canadian public if these were open to all Canadians, not just those in need. Thus was born the principle of “universality.”

However, we may no longer be able to afford universal social programs. As Filip Palda, a Professor at L’Ecole National d’Administration Publique, notes in the underground royal commission book Guardians on Trial:

It’s very easy to accept that a universal social program is compassionate, “Let’s be good to everyone,” if foreigners are paying for it. The Italians, the Japanese and people in Latin America are lending us money so we can be compassionate to middle- and upper-income people. It’s easy to be compassionate with somebody else’s money. But the resulting debt means we’re living beyond our means.

Middle-class entitlements added to Canada’s fiscal crisis. However, just as importantly, they undermined Canada’s social character. This was noted by social worker Bob Couchman in the underground royal commission book Reflections on Canadian Character:

….Canada’s new welfare-state programs seemed to me to be substituting trained professionals for the help of neighbours, friends and family. The shift from informal natural support systems was being justified on the basis that too many people had fallen through the gaps of the traditional system. What was needed was a universal social safety net run by well-trained professionals to ensure the social well-being of all citizens. As systemic rights guaranteed by the state became Canada’s new social vision, personal duty and obligation began to fade as cultural values.

… Social programs in Canada became a right for all people, rather than a service to be employed under exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness, job loss or disability. With the demise of the culture of personal duty and self-sufficiency came a new Canadian culture based upon rights and expectations.

….The welfare state, intended to herald in an era of prosperity and personal security, was slowly being forced to alter its first principles, as both personal and professional self-interest were becoming dominant values within the late post-war culture of Canada.

….It seemed to me that the feeling of entitlement, which had led to the program principle of universality, was encouraging many people and many corporations to seek money they didn’t really need.

….Universality was bastardized with the change in Canadian character from a sense of personal reciprocal obligation to a collective sense of entitlement.