Newfoundland was still trying to join the modern age of social welfare. It was 1970 before the Newfoundland government made one important change. Up to this time, a person who got short-term social assistance got a "voucher." This was a kind of credit note. People could take it to a store and get food for it. It was part of the old way of doing things. It left people feeling like second- class citizens. In 1970, at last, people were paid by cheque.

The Social Safety Net

How does it hold up now?

Building a social safety net in Newfoundland is work that is never finished. This is also true for all of Canada. We can look back in time. We can compare one time with another. We can see things that got better. We can also see problems that never seem to go away. We can see that old ideas are brought up again and again, and always some people think they are new. Or they think these ideas will work this time. Workfare is this kind of idea. It has been tried many times. It has never worked. Still, in 1995, the government of Ontario said it was time for workfare. Some people in Newfoundland also think this is a good idea.

The social safety net is a kind of puzzle. It was built of many pieces. These pieces came in many shapes and sizes. Some came from the province. Some came from Canada. Others were shared. Old pieces get taken away. New ones get added.

The social safety net is made up of things that seem to come from governments. But they really come from people. Taxes pay for them. People pressure governments for changes. They make choices when they vote. The services we have today are there because most people thought they were important.

Just as things can be built up over time, they can also be taken away. For many years, people fought to get a system of unemployment insurance that would protect the most people. But, in the 1990s, UI has been changed. Under new rules, fewer people are able to get it, for a shorter period of time.