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Civic Solidarity: Foundations of Social Development for the 21st Century (1995)

Commentary by: Susan McGrath

Community Solidarity in Winnipeg as part of cross-Canada demonstrations. Community Solidarity Ottawa is committed to building strong communities based on social, economic, racial, and gender justice.

It was appropriate that Marvyn Novick was asked to give the keynote address at the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto’s annual general meeting on May 18, 1995. The title was Civic Solidarity: Foundations of Social Development for the 21° Century. The federal government had been steadily unravelling the Canadian welfare state and a major plank in that agenda was the Canada Social Transfer (CST) set out in the budget of February 1995.

It was also just weeks away from elections in Ontario when Mike Harris’ conservative party would unleash their Common Sense Revolution to reduce taxes and the role of government. Guidance from a wise elder was needed; the room was full.

Marvyn did not disappoint. In his powerful language, he provided a disturbing analysis of the political context of the time: “We are being governed by a dominant agenda that promotes 19th century doctrines of natural selection in which excellence is once more defined as the triumph of the strong over the weak, solidarity is reduced to traditional tribal affinities, and community becomes an arena in which the comfortable seek protection from the excluded”.

He talked about the importance of public discourse and how it was being influenced by the corporate sector: the corporate contentions of “overspending, over taxation, inefficiency, and diminished value from public activity” had been seeded into the public climate. Marvyn’s lament was that the “fusion of public perspectives with the corporate world is complete.”

In a rather unusual step for a keynote address but consistent with Marvyn the teacher, he had handouts; he had prepared 4 tables. He documented what he called the “quantum transformation” that the Canada Social Transfer would have on funding for health, post-secondary education and, particularly, social programs over the next four years. He accurately predicted that the Ontario government would not make up the federal tax cuts and there would be substantial reductions in all of these programs. You will recall that one of the first actions of the Mike Harris government in 1995 was to cut social assistance rates in Ontario by almost 22% – the provincial attack on vulnerable populations and public services was on.

Marvyn also took on the corporate agenda assumption that Canadians were over taxed. One of the tables showed that in comparing total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, Canada was on par with other OECD states. He also showed that the single earner Canadian paid less in taxes than the average of other OECD states and that Canadian employers paid less than half of the taxes of the average OECD state.

Marvyn was providing his audience with the evidence they needed to challenge not only the new tax system but refute the claim that Canadians were paying too much in taxes. He believed in the Canadian welfare state, the universality of social programs, and the progressive taxation required to pay for what we value.

Marvyn believed in civic solidarity to overcome what he called a “dogma of privilege”. He called for “a powerful collective will” to regenerate a vision of hope. His mobilization strategy focused on the SPC as a hub for connecting and generating information, research, and policy perspectives. He rejected mainstream media calling for more local communications to mobilize “civic media networks”; he became an avid follower of online news seeking out alternative sources.

Marvyn’s message guides us today as once again we face a conservative provincial government in Ontario that is tearing down the health, education and social benefits that have been achieved in recent years. His call to the now Social Planning Toronto and its allies to mobilize in civic solidarity remains relevant. We are in a struggle as Marvyn said “for the soul of our city, our province, and our country.”

The text of Marvyn’s keynote address can be found here.

Susan McGrath C.M., PhD. is Senior Scholar & Professor Emerita, School of Social Work & Centre for Refugee Studies, York University

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