by Kate McFarland | May 31, 2016 | News
At its national convention in Winnipeg last week, the Liberal Party of Canada — the oldest federal political party in Canada, and the country’s current majority party — passed a resolution in favor of a guaranteed basic income.
This Priority Resolution states, “That the Liberal Party of Canada, in consultation with the provinces, develop a poverty reduction strategy aimed at providing a minimum guaranteed income.”
The rationale for the resolution draws upon Dr. Evelyn Forget’s analysis of the the success of the Mincome experiments, conducted in Dauphin, Manitoba in the late 1970s:
The ever growing gap between the wealthy and the poor in Canada will lead to social unrest, increased crime rates and violence. Research indicates that a guaranteed basic income can reduce this gap, and create social security while being cost neutral. …
… Dr. Evelyn Forget conducted an analysis of the [Mincome] program in 2009 which was published in 2011. Forget found that in the period that mincome was administered, hospital visits dropped 8.5%, with fewer incidents of work-related injuries, and fewer emergency room visits from car accidents and domestic abuse. Additionally, the period saw a reduction in rates of psychiatric hospitalization, and in the number of mental illness-related consultations with health professionals.
Roderick Benns, reporting on the resolution in Leaders and Legacies, contextualizes this breakthrough amid the growing popularity of universal basic income in Canada:
Quebec is currently looking into a form of basic income and Ontario has committed to doing a pilot project beginning this year to study the effects of a minimum income. Prince Edward Island has also expressed strong interest.
Senator Art Eggleton has been relentlessly pushing this issue, as has his retired counterpart, retired Conservative Senator Hugh Segal.
Mayors across Canada are also on board. In fact, no less than nine provincial and territorial capital leaders support basic income or at least pilot projects, with innumerable smaller city and town mayors across the nation declaring their support as well.
References:
Liberal Party of Canada, “Poverty Reduction: Minimum Income,” WPG 2016.
Daniel Tencer, “Basic Income Now Officially Liberal Party Policy,” Huff Post, May 30, 2016.
Roderick Benns, “Liberals ready to shake up Canada’s social policy with basic income guarantee,” Leaders and Legacies, May 30, 2016.
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by Kate McFarland | May 29, 2016 | News
Dr. James Mulvale, Dean and Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, believes that basic income is an idea whose time has come — as he articulates in a TEDx talk held at the University of Manitoba in April 2016.
The abstract for the talk summarizes, “By providing an economic floor for everyone in Canada, basic or guaranteed income would simplify and streamline our income security system, lower rates of poverty and inequality, and would enable us to advance environmental sustainability in the context of a steady state economy.”
Watch the full lecture on YouTube here.
Dr. Mulvale also recently participated in a debate on a basic income for Canadians and co-chaired the planning committee for the 2016 North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress, which took place at the University of Manitoba from May 11-14.
Image: University of Manitoba (from Wikimedia Commons)
by Kate McFarland | May 25, 2016 | News
Basic income has been a topic of serious discussion in Canada this year, with Ontario preparing to trial a basic income, and Nova Scotia and Manitoba also earnestly debating the idea.
Among its most prominent advocates are Dr. Evelyn Forget, an economist at the University of Manitoba noted for her analysis of the data from the Mincome experiment, and Dr. Danielle Martin, physician and Vice President of Women’s College Hospital.
In this brief interview by Evidence Network.ca, Dr. Forget and Dr. Martin “explain why Canada should consider implementing a basic income.”
Listen to the interview here:
“A guaranteed annual income would improve health and reduce poverty,” Troy Media, 2016.
by Kate McFarland | May 24, 2016 | News
Rutger Bregman, author of Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-Hour Workweek, was featured on the Tommy Schnurmacher Show, a popular Canadian talk show, on April 28, 2016.
Listen to the interview here.
Image Credit: Bond van Nederlandse Architecten (flickr)
by Kate McFarland | May 21, 2016 | News
Danielle Martin in Stouffville in 2013
Credit: Marc Abbyad (flickr)
The 2-day conference Closing the Gap: Action for Health Equity was held in April in Ottawa, Canada for the purpose of exploring “the best ways to move the health equity conversation into action.”
In this lecture recorded at the conference, Dr. Danielle Martin, a physician and health-care administrator, discusses the social and economic determinants of health, arguing that a guaranteed basic income is Canada’s best policy option to improve health and well-being.
Watch Dr. Martin’s lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsG6-eZpqKc
