A University of Alberta study has looked into public opinion on one of the most contentious political topics in Alberta’s history, namely the two waves of welfare reform initiated by the Conservative government from the mid-90s onward.
In both 1995 and 2004, Harvey Krahn, Chair of Sociology at the U of A and Amber Gazso, Assistant Professor of Sociology, York University, assessed Albertan’s opinions on social assistance programs using data collected by the U of A Population Research Laboratory. They found that, even in 1995 when the provincial government was first making substantial cuts to welfare benefits, the majority of Albertans were not supportive of these cuts.
By 2004, perhaps due to a stronger economy and the disappearance of the provincial deficit, even fewer Albertans were supportive of cuts to social assistance. The authors point back to Premier Ralph Klein's frequent observations that, rather than seeking to convince the public of the need for some intervention, he and his government simply tried to "find a parade and get in front of it." Based on the study's findings, the authors conclude that, even in 1995, the Klein government was out of step with public opinion on this topic.
“Alberta was the first Canadian province to actively engage in welfare reform,” says Krahn. “We wanted to see how supportive Albertans were of the cuts to these programs and whether the public’s support increased or decreased over the decade. And we really wanted to see if the Klein government was making policy decisions on the basis of public opinion or despite it.”
The researchers also examined how the public perceived the alternative terms “welfare,” “social assistance” and “government help to meet basic household needs.” The term “welfare” had the most negative connotation among the public, but “social assistance” was close behind. “If social assistance was once meant to be a less derogatory term than welfare, it appears that the distinction no longer matters,” says Krahn.
“When making cuts to welfare programs, the Klein government often blamed the poor and unemployed for contributing to Alberta’s deficit in the ‘90s. It appears that the majority of Albertans did not necessarily share this opinion. Today, with Alberta’s strong economy and annual year-end surpluses, there is more money to assist those who are not benefiting from the boom. The majority of Albertans would probably support such initiatives,” says Krahn.
This study appears in the current issue of the Journal of Canadian Studies.
Journal
Journal of Canadian Studies