Courchene and Policy Analysis: Retirement Income in a Fractured Social Canada

1. Courchene and Policy Analysis: Retirement Income in a Fractured Social Canada Thinking Outside the Box: A Conference in Celebration of Thomas J. Courchene School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University October 27, 2012 Michael J. Prince

2. How Courchene does policy analysis • Three aims in my presentation • Sketch the core elements of the Courchene method of public policy analysis • Apply that method to recent developments in pension reforms in Canada • Reflect on implications and future directions of both the method and pension policy

3. On retirement income policy A policy system of staggering dimensions: “... it is essentially a cradle-to-grave issue; it embodies implicit social contracts; it is a jurisdictional quagmire and it is underpinned by every conceivable type of equity issue. There are no right answers in this area.” Courchene 1997: 330.

4. Some propositions • Tom Courchene’s body of work reveals a distinctive approach to public policy analysis, an approach rooted in economic determinism and Canadian federalism • Courchene’s conception of social policy has evolved over the last 40 years and now expresses more sociological aspects: from wants to rights, from individuals to society

5. Some more propositions • Recent developments in social policy making at both orders of government indicate the fractured nature of the social union • The federal government, in its own areas of jurisdiction, and in collaboration with the provinces, has a major role in promoting Social Canada, a role which is presently underdeveloped

6. Courchene’s theoretical perspective on policy analysis • Structural determinants of social policy: political economy of markets, the logic of globalization, fiscal constraints • Some autonomy of the Canadian state • Macro-level of analysis of context and institutions from an economic viewpoint • Meso-level of analysis of policy subsystems • Trade-offs among values and objectives

7. Courchene’s methods of policy analysis • A style of reasoning that is normative, empirical, historical, legal-constitutional, and comparative • Topical issues facing political economy, social policy, and the federation • Consultative and open to ideas and critiques • Opportunity costs and windows of opportunity for policy reform • Moderate changes over time rather than radical shifts

8. Courchene’s conceptions of Canadian social policy • Human consumption and private wants satisfaction (1980) • Public programs and interventions (1987) • Policy subsystems, social policy network and the social envelope (1987, 1994) • Indispensable “glue” that binds the nation, social policy railway (1990s) • Rights of Canadian citizenship (2000s)

9. Harper-Flaherty pension reforms 2006-2012 • Tax relief for current seniors • Pension Income Credit • Pension Income Splitting • Age Credit • Federal regulated private pensions • Targeted increase to GIS • Minor changes to CPP • New Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPP) • Raising eligibility age for OAS/GIS and Allowance

10. A Courcheneian take on these reforms • Situate changes within socio-economic context • Ask who are the main players in the retirement income policy subsystem • Assess changes in terms of program interactions with overall policy subsystem • Identify trade-off s among objectives • Consider implications for current and future seniors by income levels • Ask what is the national interest in this policy area

11. Assessing recent pension policy reforms • Question the tax relief measures for seniors • Endorse the regulatory measures as prudent • Support the selective increase to the GIS for seniors • New PRPP: some additional private sector provision and self-reliance via cooperative federalism • Change eligibility for OAS: adequate transition time • Impact of GIS change for low-income seniors? • Has an enhancement to the CPP been precluded by the PRPP and other policy decisions?

12. Courchene plus • What about the CPP and other programs? • Is it really a coherent retirement income policy subsystem for most Canadians? • Offloading costs onto provinces and families due to the OAS/GIS in the next decade • Democratic deficits: from governance to the government of pension reform • Shift from cooperative to actuarial federalism

13. Conclusions: I • Courchene policy analysis maps social policy and political economy and the relations between them within the Canadian federation • A modernist scrutinizing the recent past and present to better understand it and thus to introduce changes to improve the status quo • Social policy and economic policy is “a two-way street: initiatives on the economic front must take account of the social policy context.”

14. Conclusions: II • Much of the analysis has been in one direction on this two-way street • Multiple, widening notions of social policy • Need to examine the “traffic” in the other direction: • Human agency and personal experiences • Shifting nature of values and meaning systems • Socio-demographics of gender, race, disability • Regulatory processes and relations of private power • Federal roles in the social union

15. Thank you Tom, and thank you all Michael J. Prince Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy Faculty of Human and Social Development University of Victoria mprince@uvic.ca