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Policy or window dressing? Exploring the impact of poverty reduction strategies on poverty among the Canadian provinces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Charles Plante Open the ORCID record for Charles Plante [Opens in a new window]
Charles Plante*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
*
CONTACT Charles Plante charles.plante@mail.mcgill.ca Room 712, Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T7
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Abstract

Poverty reduction strategies (PRS) have become a popular instrument for addressing poverty globally. According to their proponents, PRS focus and coordinate poverty reduction efforts in order to overcome traditional economic and socio-demographic obstacles and reduce poverty unconditionally. According to their detractors, however, governments use PRS as ‘window dressing’ to gloss over unsuccessful and/or partial poverty reduction efforts. In Canada, all ten provinces have committed to adopting PRS. In this study, I identify the timing of the introduction of PRS action plans and explore whether they have tended to coincide with changes in provincial poverty levels. I find that more often than not levels have actually dropped before rather than after the introduction of PRS. This suggests that governments may have indeed used PRS as window dressing – but to showcase and claim credit for poverty reduction successes.

Keywords

Poverty reduction strategysocial policycredit claiminggovernmentCanadaprovinces
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 35 , Issue 1: SI: Recent Social Policy in Canada and the United States , February 2019 , pp. 112 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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