Family Allowances in Canada

The Origins and Implementation

This book deals with the social, political, constitutional, moral, and economic developments which led to the implementation of a system of family allowances in Canada in July of 1945. The book focuses on when the idea first became identified in Canada; family allowances in relation to other social security measures of the time; the constitutional, moral, and financial obstacles to their implementation; the affect of family allowance legislation upon political parties; the reaction of the provinces to this legislation; and the timing of the legislation. Family allowances went through three stages in Canada: recommendations, official and unofficial, and subsequent public discussion; parliamentary debate and legislative enactment in August 1944; and the establishment of the administrative machinery leading to their implementation in July 1945.