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Political Science Economic Policy

Fixing the Future

How Canada's Usually Fractious Governments Worked Together to Rescue the Canada Pension Plan

by (author) Bruce Little

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2008
Category
Economic Policy, Economic Conditions, Canadian, Social Policy
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802098740
    Publish Date
    Oct 2008
    List Price
    $80.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802095831
    Publish Date
    Oct 2008
    List Price
    $47.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442651197
    Publish Date
    Dec 2008
    List Price
    $41.95

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Description

In 1993, most Canadians believed that big government deficits were permanent and that the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) was in such deep trouble that younger Canadians would never collect a retirement pension. They believed too that Canada's politicians were incapable of dealing with either problem. Yet by 1998, both were essentially solved.

While the deficit battles have been recounted many times, the story of the reform that rescued the CPP has gone almost entirely untold. In Fixing the Future, Bruce Little explains the CPP overhaul and shows why it stands as one of Canada's most significant public policy success stories, in part because it demanded an almost unparalleled degree of federal-provincial co-operation. Providing an overview of the CPP's entire history from its beginning in 1965, Little pulls together published, and new unpublished, material relating to the CPP reform, and interviews over fifty politicians, government officials, and others who were deeply involved in the reforms for their recollections, insights, and observations.

A superbly told history of one of Canada's most important public policy issues, Fixing the Future will be of interest to political scientists, historians, economists, and anyone concerned about their retirement.

About the author

Bruce Little has worked as a journalist and policy analyst primarily at the Globe and Mail as an economics writer and columnist, and recently as Special Adviser to the Governor of the Bank of Canada.

Bruce Little's profile page