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Canadian Welfare State : An Overview

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Canadian Welfare State

Ramya Gobitharan
Mr. Vallier
CIE4U1
Friday September 26th 2014

If you were asked are you against or for the Canadian Welfare State, what would you answer? Prior to all of the research that I have constructed for this assignment, I had little knowledge about the Canadian Welfare State. There is a lot of criticism and support from those who are against and for the Canadian Welfare State, but what exactly is it? Before coming up with my opinion I had to get to know the Welfare State, its history, and the advantages and disadvantages of it.
Prior to the great depression, there was no formal welfare system. The local governments sometimes helped people who were in need. Social welfare was first introduced in 1938 right before the Second World War. There was persistently high unemployment – reaching about 20%. This caused the provincial and federal government to begin providing relief programs and social assistance. The government continued to expand its spending on social welfare programs and by the 2nd half of the 1900s, the government started borrowing tons of money and using lots of tax dollars to uphold the social welfare safety net. . This concept came to the people as controversial. Some were opposed to the idea and others saw it as an improvement to the system.
The Welfare State has its own benefits and drawbacks. Even though social welfare has its own issues and weaknesses, it can be considered as one of the most important things in our

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