Liberalism, Social Democracy, and Tom Kent

This article argues that the lines separating different modes of thought on the centre-left of the political spectrum-liberalism, social democracy, and socialism, broadly speaking-are permeable, and that they share many features in common. The example of Tom Kent illustrates the argument. A leading adviser to Lester B. Pearson and the Liberal Party from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Kent argued for expanding social security in a way that had a number of affinities with social democracy. In his paper for the Study Conference on National Problems in 1960, where he set out his philosophy of social security, and in his actions as an adviser to the Pearson government, he supported social assistance, universal contributory pensions, and national, comprehensive medical insurance. In close association with his philosophy, he also believed that political parties were instruments of policy-making.