Towards a New Understanding

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SASKATCHEWAN’S CO-OPERATIVE COMMUNITY CLINICS AND THE GOVERNMENT OF SASKATCHEWAN

By Rochelle Elizabeth Smith

This dissertation is a study of the public policy-making process, the role of ideas and ideology in this process, and their combined effect on the relationship between social economy enterprises, particularly co-operatives, and government. It is also concerned with a central problem for all social economy organizations today: the impacts of public policy on funding, decision-making and strategy.

The central focus of this research is the relationship between three of Saskatchewan‘s co-operative Community Clinics and the provincial Government of Saskatchewan. In spite of a seeming congruence between the goals of the Community Clinics and successive provincial governments, the Clinics have not played a significant role in the reform and restructuring of the delivery of health care services in the province. This study seeks to examine this paradox with specific focus on the following overarching concerns:

• What role do ideas and ideology play in the policy-making process related to the co-operative Community Clinics? 

• What accounts for the ambiguity in the relationship between the Clinics and the government?

•  Under what conditions can the dominant paradigm in health policy, specifically regarding the co-operative Community Clinics, be changed?

Read this thesis HERE. (pdf)