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SOCI - Standing Committee

Social Affairs, Science and Technology

 

The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology

Final Report

On Social Cohesion

Chair : The Honourable Lowell Murray, P.C.

Deputy Chair : The Honourable Sister Peggy Butts

June 1999


Foreword

How will Canada care for its citizens in the face of changes brought about by globalization and technology? As we enter a new, post-deficit era, governments and business are under increasing pressure to start thinking more about the longer-term societal implications of economic policies. There are concerns that the drive toward greater economic performance could be undermined if the sacrifices and social costs are seen to fall only on the poorest and weakest segments of society and the benefits accrue to a relative few.

This has led, in turn, to a preoccupation with issues related to "social cohesion". On June 18, 1998, the Senate issued a mandate to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to conduct a study of this subject and to report by June 30, 1999.

Globalization and technology are generating enormous wealth. However, these economic advances have caused a social fallout that no country has addressed successfully. The fallout has included a rise in poverty and the phenomenon of the polarization of jobs and incomes, that is, a growing gap between those who have reasonably secure, reasonably well-paid jobs with reasonable benefits, and, people who are in part-time, contractual, temporary work at low wages with virtually no security and very few benefits.

Through its twelve month study, this Committee sought the views of academics, business and union leaders and people from the voluntary sector. These witnesses offered valuable insights into the stresses on the social fabric being created by globalization and technological change. We heard from 39 witnesses, and held 30 meetings.

We also thank our colleagues on the Committee and those other senators who came to listen to witnesses and to offer their opinions and advice. These Senators brought their varied expertise and knowledge to the table and our report has benefited from their contribution.

This study could not have been completed without the assistance and dedication of our staff advisors Judith Maxwell and Denis Saint Martin. Nadine Huggins was the Clerk of the Committee when this study began and she contributed greatly to substantive and logistical preparations for our work. Upon her departure from the Senate, it was our good fortune to have had Catherine Piccinin assigned to us as Committee Clerk. She has proven to be an extraordinarily skilled, resourceful and patient collaborator and the Committee is greatly in her debt. The Committee required the services of procedural, research and administrative officers, stenographers, interpreters, translators, messengers and printing and logistical staff who ensured the progress of our work and this final report – in particular, Mirella Agostini and Debbie Pizzoferrato from the Committees Directorate, and André Savaria from the Translation Bureau. We wish to extend our appreciation for their efficiency and hard work.

We believe that the questions considered by this study will be the dominant issues in the fields of economics, social sciences and especially politics in the years just ahead. The overriding responsibility of politicians will be to ensure that economic growth contributes to a strong social fabric.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Lowell Murray, P.C.
Chair

Sister Peggy Butts
Deputy Chair


Orders of Reference

 

Extract from the Journals of the Senate of Thursday, June 18, 1998:

"That the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology be authorized to examine and report upon the dimensions of social cohesion in Canada in the context of globalization and other economic and structural forces that influence trust and reciprocity among Canadians; and

That the Committee present its report no later than June 30, 1999.

After debate,

The question being put on the motion, it was adopted."

 

 

ATTEST:

 

Paul C. Bélisle
Clerk of the Senate

 

Extract from the Journals of the Senate of Wednesday, November 18, 1998:

"… that the [Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology] have power to authorize television and radio broadcasting, as it deems appropriate, of any or all of its proceedings, that the Committee submit its final report no later than June 30, 1999; and that the Committee retain all powers necessary to publicize the findings of the Committee contained in the final report until July 9, 1999.

[and] … that it be permitted notwithstanding usual practices, to deposit its report with the Clerk of the Senate, if the Senate is not sitting, and that the report be deemed to have been tabled in the Chamber.

After debate,

The question being put on the motion, it was adopted."

 

ATTEST:

 

Paul C. Bélisle
Clerk of the Senate


MEMBERSHIP

The Honourable Lowell Murray, P.C., Chair

The Honourable Sister Peggy Butts, Deputy Chair

 

The Honourable Senators:

James Balfour
Erminie J. Cohen
Anne C. Cools
Marisa Ferretti Barth
Aurélien Gill
Thérèse Lavoie-Roux
Marjory LeBreton
Marian Maloney
Vivienne Poy

 

* B. Alasdair Graham (or Sharon Carstairs)

* John Lynch-Staunton (or Noel A. Kinsella)

 

Original Members agreed to by Motion of the Senate:

 

The Honourable Senators:

Bonnell, Bosa, Cohen, Cools, Forest, *Graham (or Carstairs), Haidasz, Lavoie-Roux, LeBreton, *Lynch-Staunton (or Kinsella (acting)), Maheu, Murray, Pépin and Phillips.

 

 

Other Senators who participated in the work of the Committee:

 

The Honourable Senators:

Callbeck, Cook, Doody, Grafstein, Johnstone, Kinsella, Losier Cool, Mahovlich, Robichaud (Saint-Louis-de-Kent), Roche, Wilson

 

 

* Ex Officio Members


Table of contents

FOREWORD

ORDERS OF REFERENCE

MEMBERSHIP

Introduction

Chapter 1

Why the Discussion on Social Cohesion Now?
Social Cohesion: Various Definitions
The Paradox of Economic Growth and Social Exclusion
Social Disintegration as the Price of Global Economic Integration?
The Importance of Values and Re-Distributional Issues
New International Thinking on the Social Dimensions of Economic Growth
Two Notions of Competitiveness

Chapter 2

What Do Globalization and Technology Do to Canada?
The Development of Canadian Social Citizenship
The Role of the Private Sector
The Pressures for Change
The Process of Economic Globalization
The Social Engagement of Corporations
The Erosion of the Postwar Social Consensus
Competitiveness and the ‘Race to the Bottom’
Policy Implications

Chapter 3

The Effects of Public and Private Institutions on SocialCohesion in the Era of Globalization: Challenges, Opportunities and Innovations
Institutions, Legitimacy and Social Cohesion
Developing Partnerships and Enhancing Corporate Social Responsibility
Removing Barriers and Improving Access
Citizen Engagement and Public Dialogue
Moving from Unfettered Globalization to Responsible Globalization:
International Institutions

Chapter 4

The Choices Before Us
The Need for Intelligent Alternatives
The Roles of the Corporate and Voluntary Sectors
Finding the Balance Between Social and Economic Goals:
A Challenge for the Political Process
Towards a New Social Investment State
Less Talk, More Action!

APPENDICES


Introduction

Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society – its world view, its basic values, its social and political structure, its arts, its key institutions – rearranges itself. Fifty years later there is a new world. And the people born then cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived and into which their own parents were born.

We are currently living through such a transformation.(1)

At the dawn of the 21st century, Canadians face a turning point in their history – a pivotal moment where our country is being transformed from top to bottom. The industrial order of the twentieth century, with its great concentrations of economic and political power, is giving way to a new society shaped by the centrifugal forces of the Information Age: microchip technologies, global markets, and new communication networks. This historic shift has released tremendous energy and creativity while, at the same time, rocking the economic and social foundations on which our leading public and private institutions rest.

This period of change creates turbulence – economic, social, political – and poses severe challenges for the economy, society, and government. Economic inequality is increasing. Skills that were valuable yesterday are suddenly obsolete. It is more difficult for people with limited skills to find "good jobs", but opportunities open up for great increases in wealth for those who are able to exploit new technologies and emerging markets. As the gap widens between rich and poor, between high earners and average workers, governments will need to work much harder if they wish to fill their traditional role of including the un-included in society. The result is likely to be severe tension between the market and those at risk of being marginalized, with governments caught in the middle.

With these concerns in mind, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology decided to launch a special study in October, 1998, with the mandate to examine:

"The dimensions of social cohesion in Canada in the context of globalization and other economic and structural forces that influence trust and reciprocity among Canadians."

Social cohesion involves a sense of mutual commitment among citizens. This topic, along with economic growth and human development, was identified in 1996 by the Policy Research Initiative of the federal government as one of the fundamental socio-economic challenges facing Canada over the next few years. Since then, the Policy Research Committee and its Sub-Committees have issued a number of progress reports on all three themes. These reports provide an important knowledge base to understand the major features of the Canadian policy environment over the medium term.

The Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology strongly endorses the kind of horizontal policy research work undertaken by the Policy Research Committee and its Sub-Committees. In the era of globalization, it is a mistake to treat economic and social policy as separate compartments. Cross-cutting issues like economic growth and social cohesion not only transcend the boundaries between departments, but also the boundaries between different sectors of society and even the boundaries between states.

So far, the discussion of the challenges of social cohesion in the era of globalization has taken place primarily in government and academic circles. In launching this special study the Committee wanted to broaden the discussion. Its primary objectives were to:

  • put the challenges to social cohesion on the public agenda;
  • help create a public space for the beginning of a productive dialogue among Canadians about the way we should deal with the stresses on the social fabric being created by globalization and technological changes;
  • highlight innovative thinking and new ideas in the way the country is responding to these challenges so that Canadians know that there are choices and that there is a reason to have a sense of hope.

 

One of the main questions explored during the Committee’s hearings was, what forces will hold Canadian society together in an environment shaped by intense global competition and fast-moving technological change? This leads to debate on the kinds of adaptability required of individual citizens, corporations, unions, political parties, government, voluntary organizations and other collective institutions.

Government, business and community leaders need to think more imaginatively and creatively about the ideas and solutions required to help our society strike a more sustainable balance between economic globalization and a cohesive social fabric. To that end, there are three key messages in this report:

    1. The most serious challenge for decision-makers is to ensure that economic integration driven by globalizing markets does not lead to domestic social disintegration.
    2. Social cohesion is about shared values, but it is also about re-distributional issues. Building social cohesion in the new global era will require that we find ways to provide a more reasonable distribution of the benefits generated by trade liberalization and technological change. By doing this we will renew a longstanding Canadian commitment to social justice and sharing.
    3. Canadians have choices to make in addressing the socio-economic challenges posed by globalization and technology. The Committee rejects the two standard reactions - excessive government intervention or unrestrained markets. An interventionist response would be a cure worse than the disease for an open economy like Canada. But downplaying the problem is not more appropriate. For many in government and in the business world, the standard approach to globalization is to emphasize the benefits of the free flow of goods and capital, and to overlook the social fallout that may result. For too long, we have assumed that short-term social costs could be offset against long-term economic gains. What we forgot to take into account was that social damage could itself frustrate economic objectives.

A total of 39 witnesses appeared before the Committee (see Appendix A for list of names). The hearings that took place in the Fall of 1998 focused almost entirely on conceptual issues and on the research currently conducted in Canada and elsewhere on the question of social cohesion. Accordingly, most witnesses were academics, policy experts, pollsters and public servants.

For the Winter 1999 hearings, the Committee wanted to hear the views of those women and men who, in various institutions and at different levels of society, are actively engaged in cultivating the social bonds that link Canadians together. The Committee heard from:

  • the voluntary sector
  • banking and credit institutions
  • government
  • business
  • unions
  • faith groups

 

Throughout the hearings, the Committee tried to structure the discussion around a series of six generic questions (listed in Appendix B). For reasons that have to do with resources and time constraints, the evidence presented in the following pages is, of course, not exhaustive. But it provides a first step in initiating a public discussion on social cohesion among Canadians.


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