I would like to respond to the article of Duty from September 19, 2024: “Governments are doing more for Quebec in terms of social protection.”
The cited study praises the various programs launched by the federal and provincial governments over the past 25 years to protect citizens against the hazards of life and socio-economic insecurities. This would amount, according to the study, to an improvement in the protections offered to citizens over the past 25 years.
Researchers have clearly not addressed the equally, if not more, important question of the effects and outcomes of these programs.
Yet program evaluation experts agree that the majority of government programs, beyond their political announcements, do not deliver the expected results and, ultimately, do not help citizens, at least not to the extent of the announcements and promises.
A simple example:
Caregivers, whose work with their loved ones is praised by the Quebec government, only actually access assistance programs in a proportion of barely 6% of them. Too cumbersome, with inconsistencies between federal and provincial programs, those mentioned in the cited study do not seem to talk about the poor results of the programs among citizens.
Beyond the programs and their titles, we must see in the facts, on the ground, whether the State has really done more for citizens over the past 25 years.
To see in video