{"id":267665,"date":"2019-11-12T18:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T23:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:43:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T02:43:31","slug":"is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/","title":{"rendered":"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minority governments in Canada are often hailed as seminal moments in Canadian public policy history. Conventional wisdom is that the compromises necessary during those periods result in more lasting change. But a closer look at the details of those years tells a different story. The message for parliamentarians in a minority government: you are playing a long game. Even more than usual, policy movement will be incremental, and events outside the House matter more than manoeuvres inside. <\/span><\/p>\n

A prime example of this misconception around minority governments is the establishment of Medicare, during Lester Pearson\u2019s second Liberal minority from 1965-68. Historian P.E. Bryden, in her book Planners and Politicians: Liberal Politics and Social Policy, 1957-1968<\/i><\/span><\/a>, <\/i>demonstrates that the NDP\u2019s role in advancing Medicare was insignificant at the time, even though the NDP\u2019s political fortunes were on the rise. Every turning point during that period was about the federal Liberals\u2019 internal struggles and the challenges of federal-provincial negotiations. Powerful cabinet ministers and provincial premiers blocked or greenlighted agreements. But NDP votes in Parliament weren\u2019t essential. The government side won comfortably in votes on the 1966 Medical Care Act, with or without NDP support. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, when Medicare finally launched in 1968, the policies implemented were at least as much shaped by conservative resistance as by progressive support. This was also true in tax reform, as I show in my recent book, Give and Take: The Citizen-Taxpayer and the Rise of Canadian Democracy<\/i><\/span><\/a>. It is a general theme of the Pearsonian social policies. They were compromise measures, fiscally constrained versions of bolder policy ideas then in circulation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Around the same time as the Medicare Act passed, the Pearson government faced a sharp shock in the bond market. In August 1966, a $500 million Canadian government bond issue failed. What investors didn\u2019t buy, the Bank of Canada had had to absorb, creating money and stoking inflation in the process. To compensate, then-finance minister Mitchell Sharp halted or delayed various spending plans, including Medicare. Ignoring the NDP\u2019s relentless taunts that the Liberals had dragged their feet for 50 years on their promise of health insurance, Sharp announced Medicare would launch in 1968 instead of the Centennial year of 1967.<\/span><\/p>\n

A further postponement was staved off by two regressive tax measures that Sharp introduced in his November 1967 mini-budget. Both measures were designed to curb inflation. One was an immediate five percent surtax on Canadians\u2019 personal income tax bills, and the other was a proposed \u201cearmarked\u201d income tax that would cover the whole cost of the federal expenditure on Medicare. <\/span><\/p>\n

Funding social spending through an earmarked tax was designed to make spending as minimally redistributive as possible. That might seem strange now, but the senior political leaders of the 1960s had grown up in a world where taxation (even income taxation) was often designed to ensure that the tax burden fell most heavily on those deemed most likely to use social services. The amount collected from each person was capped, so that people with incomes above a modest working-class level paid at a progressively lower rate. At a decent $6,000 taxable income, an earmarked tax of 2 percent yielded $120. But with a tax capped at $120, a more comfortable income of $12,000 paid only 1 percent. Such taxes were meant to inculcate \u201ctax consciousness\u201d through what I like to call \u201cshow them the price\u201d taxation. A similar approach was taken with the 1951 universal non-contributory old-age pension (Old Age Security).<\/span><\/p>\n

The NDP was critical of this kind of taxation. Why add to the income tax burden of lower-income people and limit the impact of the same tax on the more well-off? Why charge an extra tax to deliver programs that could and should be funded by general revenue, raised out of properly progressive taxation?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
During a 1966 reception at Government House, then-Conservative leader John Diefenbaker, an unidentified diplomat and then-NDP leader Tommy Douglas share a humourous moment. (CP PHOTO\/Ted Grant)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When in February 1968, when the time came for a vote on the bills embodying Sharp\u2019s November budget proposals, the twists of parliamentary politics gave the NDP a chance to bring these criticisms home and get a real legislative result. In a mostly empty House, the income tax measures were defeated, 84 to 82, with the help of the Progressive Conservatives. <\/span><\/p>\n

After a scramble to prevent the government\u2019s fall, Sharp had to devise a new fiscal package to replace the defeated one. In the income tax amendments, there was still an anti-inflation tax, but it kicked in at a higher income level, it was set at a lower rate, and there was no cap. The NDP criticisms had landed, and for a few months, tax policy in Canada was a bit less regressive than it would otherwise have been. <\/span><\/p>\n

Still, in October 1968, in the first budget of the Pierre Trudeau majority, finance minister Edgar (\u201cBen\u201d) Benson would introduce the Medicare tax that Sharp had promised in November 1967. The NDP-Tory joint manoeuvre earlier in the year didn\u2019t stop Benson in October from introducing the \u201csocial development tax,\u201d which was open to identical objections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully, these old \u201cshow them the price\u201d devices in personal income taxation were headed for the delete bin of tax policy. They were eliminated in the 1971 tax reform budget, one of the small victories of that moment. The 1971 tax reform, like the 1968 Medicare program, delivered only a limited version of the policy proposals that had been laid out by the 1966 Royal Commission on Taxation. In tax, we are still awaiting comprehensive reform; and so far, the 1964 proposals for drugs, dental, and home care are still proposals. But, one way or another, our politics have incrementally yielded progress \u2013 the campaigns against extra-billing led (with some help again from the Saskatchewan NDP<\/span><\/a>) to the Canada Health Act of 1984 and, according to former finance minister Michael Wilson,<\/span><\/a> federal-provincial politics helped shape sales tax reform.<\/span><\/p>\n

In health insurance, as in tax policy, the 1970s and 1980s saw continuing political struggle, inside Parliament and beyond, to improve those first flawed efforts, achieved by hard compromise. Policy is a long game, and though much was achieved during the Pearson minorities, most of it still needed a lot more work, the complex work of building policy momentum. Parliamentarians can help with that, but confidence votes in the House weren\u2019t and won\u2019t be their best tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Feb. 7, 1968: Then-justice minister Pierre Trudeau, then-prime minister Lester Pearson and then-finance minister Mitchell Sharp at a federal-provincial constitutional conference in Ottawa. Photo by John McNeill \/ The Globe and Mail<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/i>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/i>link<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it. |\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/i>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/i>directives<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minority governments in Canada are often hailed as seminal moments in Canadian public policy history. Conventional wisdom is that the compromises necessary during those periods result in more lasting change. But a closer look at the details of those years tells a different story. The message for parliamentarians in a minority government: you are playing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":241598,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:43:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"d26bbd2e-c474-41ab-b0d9-0d766fa91315","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:43:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A0mu9LsR0Qauw2Q12b6kTFQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9358,9372],"tags":[9133],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-267665","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-federalisme","irpp-category-politique"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minority governments in Canada are often hailed as seminal moments in Canadian public policy history. Conventional wisdom is that the compromises necessary during those periods result in more lasting change. But a closer look at the details of those years tells a different story. The message for parliamentarians in a minority government: you are playing […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Policy Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T02:43:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1567648-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/1567648-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-12T23:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T02:43:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/1567648-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/1567648-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/\",\"name\":\"Policy Options\",\"description\":\"Institute for Research on Public Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/policyoptions.irpp.org\\\/fr\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?","og_description":"Minority governments in Canada are often hailed as seminal moments in Canadian public policy history. Conventional wisdom is that the compromises necessary during those periods result in more lasting change. But a closer look at the details of those years tells a different story. The message for parliamentarians in a minority government: you are playing […]","og_url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/","og_site_name":"Policy Options","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org","article_modified_time":"2025-10-08T02:43:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1853,"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1567648-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@irpp","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/","name":"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1567648-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-12T23:00:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T02:43:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1567648-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1567648-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2019\/11\/is-our-nostalgia-around-minority-governments-misplaced\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is our nostalgia around minority governments misplaced?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/","name":"Policy Options","description":"Institute for Research on Public Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues\/267665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issues"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267665"},{"taxonomy":"article-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-status?post=267665"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-category?post=267665"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=267665"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-tag?post=267665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}