Planners and Politicians: Liberal Politics and Social Policy, 1957-1968

D.M.L. Farr is professor emeritus of history at Carleton University,
where he taught Canadian political history and the history of Canada’s
external relations.

The Liberal Party under Lester Pearson and in the early years of Pierre
Trudeau produced a “torrent of legislation” that completed the
structure of the Canadian welfare state. First came the Canada Pension
Plan (1965), a national (except for Quebec) contributory pension scheme.
Second was health insurance, based on the St. Laurent government’s
1957 hospital insurance plan and the federal underwriting of
fee-for-service physician care (1968). Until now this legislative
program has been only partially examined by historians. Parts of the
Liberal social welfare agenda have been studied, and there have been
comparisons between Canada’s experience in the field and that of the
United States. General histories of post–1945 Canada have given the
subject surprisingly little attention. In biographies of key actors such
as Lester Pearson, it has been relegated to the sidelines.

P.E. (Penny) Bryden, an assistant professor of history at Mount Allison
University, has repaired these omissions in her careful new study of the
subject. The Liberal Party designed a package of social policies during
its years in opposition to the Diefenbaker government (1957–1963).
This action flowed from the efforts of a group of progressives within
the party—Tom Kent, Walter Gordon, and Maurice Lamontagne—who
pressed their ideas on the old guard. Although there was no public
agitation for pensions, for instance, neither was there opposition.
Social legislation, the party believed, might be an advantageous means
of regaining power.

Once in office under Prime Minister Pearson, the Liberals encountered
the impediment of the Canadian federal system. Social policy lay within
provincial jurisdiction; the previous federal efforts in the field had
been intermittent and partial. Now the leaders of the party, supported
by a group of sympathetic bureaucrats, wanted broad measures that were
national in scope and universal in coverage. The achievement of a
Canada-wide pension plan was the legacy of the Pearson era, although
Pearson was hardly a crusading figure in the accomplishment. The Lesage
government in Quebec worked out a superior pension plan; Pearson was
astute enough to see that the federal plan needed to be modified to
incorporate strengths from the Quebec scheme. Planning for insurance to
cover physicians’ services went forward slowly during the Pearson
years, and it took a more decisive Trudeau to turn proposals into
legislation.

This is a study of a political party grappling with unfamiliar issues.
It brings out the internal tensions between individuals, generations,
and wings of the party. It confronts the fact that a national consensus
on social questions was difficult to reach and that the federal
initiative, solidly based on stronger taxing powers, would have to
compromise with initiatives from other levels of government. Bryden’s
interpretation is focused on the role of the state, but the state is
seen as a concept that embraces politicians, bureaucrats, and the
federal network.

Planners and Politicians is well written, with at times a rather dense
style. It is mercifully free from social science jargon save for
occasional expressions such as “the gendered dimension of social
policy developments.” There are comprehensive reference notes and an
impressive listing of sources, both public and private. Many of the
actors in the process have been interviewed. Bryden has written a book
that fills a conspicuous gap in the historical record of Canada.
Canadians today regard their 30-year-old social security and health
network as central to their national identity; this is the story of how,
laboriously and fitfully, it came about.