Pols 321 Glossary of Terms
Residualism: Common assumption prior to the 1940’s that the family (and by extension the local community) and private market were responsible for providing relief for those unable to support themselves because of some misfortune. State-sponsored agencies were seen as the last resort for relief and then only on an emergency or temporary basis.
Institutionalism: The notion that society had an obligation to protect and compensate those individuals who bore the costs of industrial and urban modernization.
Social minimum: Realization that in a civilized society, there is a minimum of conditions necessary to have a chance in life.
Values: The result of the interaction between beliefs, interests and ideologies
Interests: How one would like to the world to work – e.g. “I support expansion of private hospitals.”
Ideology: An individual’s, organization’s (or groupings of the two) view of how the world ought to work – e.g. “There ought to be a greater role for the private sector and the market than government…”
Beliefs: Our knowledge of how we think the world actually works, based on everyday experience. Thus, beliefs are the target of research findings and other forms of information. However, changing beliefs is usually a very slow process.
Institutions: The organizations and processes surrounding public decision making including: legislatures, cabinet, central agencies (Treasury Board, Privy Council Office), legislation and regulation (explicit rules of conduct) -Constitution Act, Canada Health Act and related regulations, informal rules – understandings between major actors about how they will interact – non-violent, semi-formalized.
Power: The ability to control and manipulate one’s environment and everything/one in it.
Useable knowledge: Information gathered from various sources (research, anecdote, experience and propaganda) that is translated in a way that is understandable and therefore useful for public decision makers.
Public policy: A set of interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within a specified situation where those decisions, should, in principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve.
Established Program Financing: Act EPF (1977) effectively ended the 50/50 cost shared arrangement between the federal/provincial/territorial governments for the delivery for health services and post-secondary education, previously spelled out through the Revenue Transfer Act (1972). The new transfers were a combination of cash and tax points, tied to the rate of population growth and growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act (1957): Legislation passed by the federal government to establish an open-ended (50/50) cost-sharing arrangement with provincial governments to cover the costs of hospital services. Provincial plans were required to provide prepaid, comprehensive coverage and universal access based on medical necessity.
The Medical Care Act (1966): Legislation passed by the federal government to establish an open-ended (50/50) cost-shared arrangement with provincial governments to cover the costs of physicians’ services and services provided by other providers under the direction of physicians, wherever rendered. Prepaid benefits were to be comprehensive, universally accessible, publicly administered and portable (transferable) across provinces.