Social Policy in Ontario

Canada finally has a minister of social justice

Posted on November 6, 2015 in Governance Delivery System

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TheStar.com – Opinion/Commentary – Making good on his pledge to bolster middle class families, Justin Trudeau appoints a top economist as his children’s minister.
Nov 05 2015.   By: Carol Goar, Star Columnist

It has been a long time since Canada had a full-time minister of social affairs.

One of the subtle changes Justin Trudeau made in building his cabinet was the creation of a new portfolio: minister responsible for families, children and social development. Unlike his father, he didn’t combine health and welfare. Unlike Stephen Harper, he didn’t try to define social justice out of existence, creating a ministry of “human resources and skills development.”

The new prime minister’s message was clear: Supporting families – lifting them out of poverty, helping them find affordable housing, getting them into the workforce and improving their children’s life chances – is a stand-alone job, one that remains at the top of his agenda.

The candidate Trudeau chose was counter-intuitive. Jean-Yves Duclos, 50, is a professor of economics from Quebec City who has made his mark as an authority on fiscal transfers, public finances and the economics of demographic change. His election last month surprised even him; his riding had not been represented by a Liberal since 1980.

On closer examination, however, his curriculum vitae provides a few clues to his appointment. Duclos founded the Poverty and Economic Policy Research Network. He served as a page in the House of Commons under Pierre Trudeau and joined Canada World Youth, an international organization than trains volunteers 15-to-35 to be community workers at home and abroad. He is a father of three.

His public statements add another dimension. “I’m an economist by training but more of a philosopher by attitude,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “At school I did better in mathematics and physics but I was more interested in things like sociology.”

He said he understood – and accepted – that politics is a “team game.” Trudeau did not want solo performers, regardless of their credentials. He was willing to contribute his talent to the pool.

On the campaign trail, he emphasized the link between social justice and economic development. “We know public projects in transportation, the green economy and social infrastructure (as opposed to hockey stadiums and snowmobile trails) are things that will be good for the country next year, the next five years and for the long term – 10, 20 years,” he told Maclean’s magazine.

His new job will certainly require teamwork – with Health Minister Jane Philpott, a family physician who sees the economy and environment as intrinsic to human health; with Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, whose job is to bring more Canadians, especially young people, into the workforce; with Immigration Minister John McCallum, who will soon bring 25,000 Syrian refugees (most of them women and children) nto Canada; and with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett, who is responsible for some of the poorest families in the country.

Undoubtedly geography played a large part in Duclos’s appointment. He was one of two Liberals elected in the Quebec City region. (It is a Conservative stronghold). But having an MP with economic heft in a social portfolio raises interesting possibilities. It could give the ministry more weight at the cabinet table. It could mean fewer aspirations and targets, of which the Liberals have an abundance, and more tangible action, which they need.

Duclos didn’t get much attention at Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony. Social policy ministers seldom do. He was eclipsed by the “stars” of the Trudeau cabinet like Finance Minister Bill Morneau. There was more talk about high-profile Liberals who didn’t make the cut – Bill Blair, Andrew Leslie, Adam Vaughan – than the Quebec rookie who did.

But that too may be a good thing. It will give him time to get his bearings before an avalanche of pent-up expectations from children’s advocates and anti-poverty activists lands on his desk. It gives him breathing space before his provincial counterparts press their demands.

Like the other 17 rookie MPs in Trudeau’s cabinet, Duclos is untested as a legislator, policy-maker and public figure. But he will have civil servants to bring him up to speed. He will have experienced colleagues in cabinet and caucus. And he’ll have ministerial aides to steer him around the shoals.

Most important, he’ll have a boss who needs him to succeed. Trudeau has given him a lead role in building a strong middle class.

The new minister’s parents flew to Ottawa from Quebec City for the swearing-in. Jean-Luc Duclos and Monique Blouin joined thousands of people outside Rideau Hall to watch the televised ceremony. His mother said she’d given him a single piece of advice: “Respect others.”

That should stand him in good stead.

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/11/05/canada-finally-has-a-minister-of-social-justice-goar.html >

Tags: child care, crime prevention, disabilities, economy, Health, homelessness, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living

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