From UI to EI: Waging War on the Welfare State
Georges Campeau
Established in 1940 in response to the Great Depression, the original goal of Canada’s system of unemployment insurance was to ensure the protection of income to the unemployed. Joblessness was viewed as a social problem and the jobless as its unfortunate victims. If governments could not create the right conditions for full employment, they were obligated to compensate people who could not find work. While unemployment insurance expanded over several decades to the benefit of the rights of the unemployed, the mid-1970s saw the first stirrings of a counterattack as the federal government’s Keynesian strategy came under siege. Neo-liberalists denounced ... Read more
From UI to EI examines the history of Canada’s unemployment insurance system and the rights it grants to the unemployed. The development of the system, its legislation, and related jurisprudence are viewed through a historical perspective that accounts for the social, political, and economic context. Campeau critically examines the system with emphasis upon its more recent transformations. This book will interest professors and students of law, political science, and social work, and anyone concerned about the right of the unemployed to adequate protection.
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About Georges Campeau
Reviews for From UI to EI: Waging War on the Welfare State
Alvin Finkel, Athabasca University
Labour/Le Travail, Issue 58, Fall 2005
Campeau’s book is without question a useful survey of the history of employment insurance in Canada. For those interested in the legislation itself, Campeau offers a detailed and esoteric look at its adoption and development over the ... Read more