The 1993 campaign was noted for the former Prime Minister's refusal to debate social policy. Prime Minister Campbell denied that her government had a secret agenda for social policy but said social policy was too important to be discussed in an election campaign. The Liberals attacked Campbell but did not tell the voters that within six months of the election that they would put social programs on the chopping block. Quite the opposite. The Red Book assured Canadians that jobs and preserving our social programs were the priorities.
Social costs are real.
They are measured in human suffering and hard dollars. Little wonder that Canadians believed they were voting for jobs and maintaining our social programs. The Canadian Labour Congress expressed its desire to cooperate and support this agenda. But another message began to emerge in the weeks leading up to the first budget of the new government. The Minister of Finance started talking about UI being too generous and UI dependency.