THE CHALLENGE OF INVESTMENT IN SOCIAL VALUES: AN ETHICO‐ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A POLICY PROPOSAL TO PROMOTE WELFARE EMPLOYMENT THROUGH THE TENDERING PROCESS

Abstract

With the events leading up to the election of the Harris Conservative government in Canada's province of Ontario in June of 1995, the debate over “workfare vs. welfare” began to heat up. Ontario traditionally has been Canada's wealthiest province and has developed generous social programmes for her own citizens. As well, over the years, the nation has counted on Ontario's wealth to provide considerable funding for the transfer payments which have supported Canada's poorer provinces. However, in recent years, Ontario has been experiencing a serious economic recession. The effects have been to dramatically increase the provincial government's debt load and to place a burden of taxation on businesses and consumers to pay the interest on this debt, while sustaining the costly social safety net. Many citizens of Ontario have come to regard this debt load as a major obstacle to economic recovery and have targeted social programmes as the focus for serious budget cuts.

Citation

Melchin, K.R. (1997), "THE CHALLENGE OF INVESTMENT IN SOCIAL VALUES: AN ETHICO‐ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A POLICY PROPOSAL TO PROMOTE WELFARE EMPLOYMENT THROUGH THE TENDERING PROCESS", Humanomics, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 38-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018790