Dr. George Grant was a Canadian Political
Philosopher. He cherished Conservative political values, and accepted some of
the critic of Karl Marx on the key principle of capitalist or liberal economic
system as an absolute truth. Dr. Grant books like “Technology and Justice” and “Technology
and Empire” are explaining that how the capitalist or liberal economy is
only interested about profit and not people.
Thus, it is time to put aside political competition among different
political ideologies since this new area is not about the Cold War, but to look
at the political economic issues in light of what is best for Canada.
Karl Marx criticized the capitalist economic
system in terms of class conflict, it is divided in two classes, a class that
has and a class does not have. Since the class has, it is defining the mode of
production. The class does not have; it must obey what the class has says. The
class has, it is interested to increase productivity to enhance its profit. To
increase profit, it needs to have machines that they are working relentlessly
and faster than human labor. Therefore, those individuals that they are unable
to wear the capitalist or liberal economic, they are doomed to failure.
Currently, scholars like Daron Acemoglu, James
Robinson in their book “The Origin of
Power, Prosperity, and Poverty Why Nations Fail”, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs’s book
“The End of Poverty”, and Canadian social
activist Naomi Klein asserted that globalization as a major factor to
contribute to poverty in the nations because the multinational corporation are
moving their manufactures to the developing nations for the cheap labors and
the developed nations are unable to develop workforce to contribute to
sustainable economic growth. This trend has been going on for a long time, and
the negative impact of globalization on the developed nations are appearing
since 1980s.
In 1980s, Canadian public policy in the area of
social programs began to have seismic shift from social investment on social
programs to reduce poverty of Canadians to the point that caused massive
homelessness in Canada which was unprecedented in the Canadian history.[1]
It is important to understand that the issue of homelessness is effecting
anyone, several attempts made to deal with the issue of homelessness with no
concrete result.[2]It
is important to understand that there are three types of welfare state.[3]
Like “provision of minimum income, provision for the
reduction of economic insecurity resulting from such "contingencies"
as sickness, old age and unemployment, and provision to all members of society
of a range of social services. Under this definition, Canada became a welfare
state after the passage of the social welfare reforms of the 1960s”[4] The system did not develop a meaningful strategy
to deal with the issue of homelessness.[5]
Hence, the issue of homelessness is not dissipating from Canada’s hot button
issues. There are some facts that they are worthy to know to understand the
future of Canada is bleak in this light:
4) 50,000: Estimated number of people who are "hidden
homeless" -- defined as those without homes of their own who lean on
friends or family for shelter -- on any given night.[9]
5) 4 million: Number of bed nights, defined as nights during
which a shelter bed is occupied, each year across Canada.[10]
6) $105.3 million: Amount the federal government spends annually on
the Homeless Partnering Strategy, which is designed to prevent and reduce
homelessness.[11]
7) 82,380: People who found more stable housing as a result
of the Homeless Partnering Strategy.[12]
The current strategy to deal with colossal
issue of homelessness is to work toward strategy of “the Housing First model
across Canada, significant reductions in homelessness in Medicine Hat and
Hamilton, federal interest and investment in housing and homelessness, and
importantly, the return to a National Housing Strategy – a long overdue
conversation in Canada.”[13]
In conclusion, the issue of homelessness is here to stay with us since
the world is moving toward globalization. Plus, the United Nations has been
expressing concern to Canada the way it has been dealing with the issue of
homelessness.[14] “The
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has criticized Canada for
its "persistent housing crisis" in a report that points to the lack
of a national housing strategy.”[15]
The United Nations looked at the issue of homelessness in several areas “
1) “Discrimination faced
by First Nations people and people of colour.
2) High unemployment among
disadvantaged and marginalized groups and individuals.
3) Minimum wage that falls
short of living costs.
4) A stagnation of social
spending as a share of GDP.
5) Lack of adequate
housing for people with disabilities.”[16]
The issue of homelessness will require attention of three level of
governments, private sectors, and non-profit sectors.[17] It is
an issue which needs to be dealt with so everyone can benefit from economic
prosperity of Canada.
[1] “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016.” The State of
Homelessness in Canada 2016 | The Homeless Hub, homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.
[2] “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016.” The State of
Homelessness in Canada 2016 | The Homeless Hub, homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.
[3] Moscovitch, Allan. “Welfare State.” The Canadian Encyclopedia,
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/welfare-state/.
[4] provision of minimum income, provision for the reduction of
economic insecurity resulting from such "contingencies" as sickness,
old age and unemployment, and provision to all members of society of a range of
social services. Under this definition, Canada became a welfare state after the
passage of the social welfare reforms of the 1960s
[5] “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016.” The State of
Homelessness in Canada 2016 | The Homeless Hub, homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.
[6] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[7] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[8] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[9] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[10] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[11] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[12] “Homelessness in Canada: Key statistics.” CTVNews, 16 Mar.
2016, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homelessness-in-canada-key-statistics-1.2819986.
[13] “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016.” The State of
Homelessness in Canada 2016 | The Homeless Hub, homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.
[14] News, CBC. “UN committee chastises Canada over 'persistent housing
crisis'.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 8 Mar. 2016,
www.cbc.ca/news/business/un-housing-crisis-1.3480979.
[15] The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has
criticized Canada for its "persistent housing crisis" in a report
that points to the lack of a national housing strategy.
[16] The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has
criticized Canada for its "persistent housing crisis" in a report
that points to the lack of a national housing strategy.
[17] “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2016.” The State of
Homelessness in Canada 2016 | The Homeless Hub, homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.
