(Book Review) Social policy and practice in Canada Essay

(Book Review) Social policy and practice in Canada - Essay Example This book is truly the first of its kind in regards to this subject matter that has been able to provide an insightful and critical perspective on the entire evolutionary process of social policy in the country. Furthermore, Alvin Finkel proves himself as being an extraordinary author, as he divulges into issues that have never been discussed - or even thought of, in some cases - before. In order to be able to understand this book better, the entire work must be thoroughly examined and discussed, and by doing this we will not only be able to gain a more informed and understanding viewpoint on the literary work itself, but as well on the author and on what his purpose was for writing this book. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Social Policy and Practice is a book which starts off by giving a historical point of view in regards to the history of the social policies that have taken place within Canada, and one of the first issues in particular that he discusses is that of how "Canada's constitutional development reflects the history of Canada itself, its maturation into a self-governing democracy, and the steady advent of new ideas and conditions" (22). It is pointed out that the Constitution has changed considerably over the years and that this has made a strong impact on the country of Canada overall, and that these changes have greatly influenced the different social policies and practices that have come about. Finkel then begins to discuss the actual history of constitutional antecedents, and he makes particular note of the fact that Canada's political and constitutional development actually did not begin with the arrival of the first European settlers, contrary to the majority of the world's beliefs, but rather "Formal constitutional development in Canada began with the Edict creating the Sovereign Council of Quebec in 1663, whereby the French established New France as a royal province and made provision for civil government" (26). He continues for several chapters discussing the actual origin of Canada and the onset of the most basic and most intermediate social policies and practices of the countries, and uses analogies and comparisons between Canada and other industrialized countries in order to show the striking and significant differences that exist here. We can see from this alone that Canada is a country which is really in crisis in this regards, as there are a number of large and imperative issues that are facing the country as a whole. Finkel makes very clear in the very beginning of the book the fact of how important and dire it is to have proper and efficient social policies and practices in any country, and that however there are more problems in this regards with Canada than basically any other industrialized nations. He then begins on the issue of the current social policy review process in Canada, and he states that there is a setting for this current debate on the social policies in Canada which truly parallels that of most other industrialized countries in the world, and that "Common features include a secular growth slowdown topped by a recession in the early 1990s, an aging population requiring higher transfer and health-care expenditures, rising needs and costs associated with the increasing prevalence of the single-parent family, and