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Devolution and Neoliberalism in the Canadian Welfare State

Ideology, National and International Conditioning Frameworks, and Policy Change in British Columbia

Simon Fraser University, Canada, mcbridea{at}sfu.ca

Kathleen Mcnutt

University of Regina, Canada, Kathy.McNutt{at}uregina.ca

The Canadian welfare state has changed significantly in the last decade with the federal devolution of policy responsibilities creating opportunities for some provinces to adopt American social policy ideas. Given the expectations of resilience and non-convergence, in the welfare state literature, this article addresses the issues of policy change by demonstrating that the movement of British Columbia's labour and social policy towards international neoliberal norms, including policy examples set in many US jurisdictions, have produced limited convergence. We suggest that this indicates that more change has occurred and is occurring in the Canadian welfare state than the resilience model or comparative public policy literature would indicate.

Key Words: British Columbia • labour • neoliberalism • policy change • policy convergence • social policy

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