SAPs in Canada
Section Articles
Cutbacks to social services and impacts on the poor
It is a bitter irony that the most drastic cuts ever to Canadian social programs occurred in 1995, the same year as the World Summit on Social Development. At Copenhagen, Canada joined other nations in a commitment to the goal of “eradicating poverty in the world”. Meanwhile back home in Ottawa, the legislation implementing the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) simultaneously dismantled the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP). The original goals of the CAP included the provision of “adequate assistance to... persons in need and the prevention and removal of the causes of poverty.” (cited in Day and Brodsky 1998:14)
Agriculture backgrounder
The current farm crisis in the West is an important backdrop for any discussion on the effects of structural adjustment programs on agriculture in Canada. This paper highlights some of the difficulties and challenges imposed on farmers as a result of structural adjustment programs, among others, and the possible remedies and solutions to the crisis, both short-term and long-term.
Impacts of the SAP on the farm sector in Canada
Although the language of “structural adjustment” is most commonly used to describe economic programs imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on countries seeking loans or unable to repay debts, much of the Canadian economy has also been “structurally adjusted”.
Labour market reforms and impacts on atlantic workers
Assessing the impact of structural adjustment policies is difficult because causality is complex. These policies interact with each other in mutually reinforcing ways. They also interact with technological forces, corporate strategies and a web of institutional structures (production, labour market, social, cultural, fiscal, etc...). The impact of this interplay amongst policies and the institutional landscape on society is not only complex but also cumulative.
Report from workshop with national farmers union
Since the mid 1970s the realized net income of Canadian farms have fallen consistently. The farm crisis that dominated headlines a few months ago may have been triggered by environmental conditions but statistical information clearly indicates it is part of an ongoing trend that has seen net income per farm (in 1998 $) fall from $50,000 in 1975 to -$2,000 in 1999.
SAP in Canada
Most Canadians would be surprised to learn that economists from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annually visit Canada to dispense advice. We tend to think of the IMF as an institution that prescribes strong medicine, known as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), only to less developed countries. In fact our governments regularly follow the same bitter prescriptions.
Trade liberalization and impacts on garment workers
On a global basis, the apparel industry, together with the textile industry, is the largest source of industrial employment in the world. Clothing and textile are the most globalized industries in the world, with export production occurring in every corner of the globe. The apparel industry worldwide, employing over 7.5 million people, has drastically restructured in recent years with production moving from developed to developing countries.
CASA updates, May 2001
In Canada, CASA is being undertaken by a Steering Committee of non-governmental organizations from a number of sectors, including labour, development and anti-poverty organizations. As Canada does not receive structural adjustment loans from international financial institutions, the Steering Committee in Canada chose to focus on the 1995 budget, in which the federal government pushed through many structural adjustment reforms, reforms recommended to Canada by the IMF in its Article IV consultations.
PRSP Review Submission (June 2000)
The Halifax Initiative Coalition members include development, human rights, environment and church organizations. In Canada, it is the main voice for reform of the international financial institutions so that they better serve the poor. Like many others, the Halifax Initiative Coalition initially extended a tentative welcome to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process, hoping that the language of "country ownership" and "civil society participation" would, in time, result in some level of empowerment of people affected by IFI policies and programs.
The IMF's Structural Adjustment Programme for Canada 1994-1995 (December 1995)
This report outlines the Structural Adjustment programs that Canada must adhere to governed by the IMF.
