title: Health as an irreversible part of the welfare state: Canadian government policy under the Tories.
abstract: This article provides an assessment of the health policy of the Canadian Conservative government under Brian Mulroney, 1984-1993. Underlying this assessment is the need to test the theory of the irreversibility of the welfare state in the light of its health component. The author argues that despite a political rhetoric that might have presaged a sharp rollback of Canada's Medicare, either through residualization or progressive commodification, Canada emerged from this period of New Right federal government with its state-funded health care system still in place. This argument is substantiated through a consideration of the social policy model inherited by the Mulroney government and how it was affected by the government's fiscal policies between 1984 and 1993.
authors.affiliation: Department of Politics and International Studies University of Warwick Coventry, England.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: O'Neill
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D005380:Financing, Government; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011057:Politics; D018855:Single-Payer System; D012946:Social Welfare