BUILDING BACK BETTER: Forging a post-pandemic social contract that works for all

A weekly series of on-line moderated discussions between August 25 and September 10, 2020

2020 Queen’s International Institute on Social Policy conference will explore how Canada and other OECD countries can rethink and reset critical building blocks of social policy in light of the fault lines exposed by the current crisis.

SESSION 7 - Rethinking fiscal arrangements in Canada

COVID-19 has generated massive pressures on health and social services, burgeoning fiscal deficits at all levels of government and calls for higher standards and greater coverage for services such as long-term care. There is a risk of untenable fiscal imbalances in the federation. These tensions come on top of other frictions related to equalization and shocks to energy-dependent provincial economies.  As a result, questions are being raised about the robustness of Canada’s current fiscal arrangements.  What policy ideas should policy-makers be looking at? Are our intergovernmental governance mechanisms up to the task of harnessing this discussion?

Speakers:

• Daniel Béland, James McGill Professor and Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, McGill 
• Robin Boadway, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Queen’s

Moderator: Jennifer Robson, Associate Professor, Kroeger College, Carleton