CANADA: Oxford-style Debate on Basic Income (video)

CANADA: Oxford-style Debate on Basic Income (video)

On April 18, 2016, an Oxford-style debate on basic income was held at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, Ontario.

During the event, two basic income supporters, James Mulvale (Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba) and Chandra Pasma (Policy Analyst, Ottawa), faced off against Mike Moffatt (Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario) and Margot Young (Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia).

The debate was open to the public, and, according to the moderator, it was well attended despite (alas!) taking place in a room with no windows on a sunny day.

Prior to debate, attendees were polled on whether they agreed, disagreed, or were undecided about the following motion: “Be it resolved that every Canadian should receive a Basic Income Guarantee.”

After hearing the four experts express their arguments for and against the motion, attendees were again on polled. The winning side was determined by assessing the audience’s change in opinion during the debate.

So, who won?

Well, I wouldn’t want to include any spoilers. Watch the debate on vimeo to find out!


Photo of Downtown London, Ontario CC Mathew Campbell, Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to my supporters on Patreon. (Click the link to see how you too can support my work for Basic Income News.) 

David Calnitsky, “‘More Normal than Welfare’: The Mincome Experiment, Stigma, and Community Experience”

Abstract:

This paper examines the impact of a social experiment from the 1970s called the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment (Mincome). I examine Mincome’s “saturation” site located in Dauphin, Manitoba, where all town residents were eligible for guaranteed annual income payments for three years. Drawing on archived qualitative participant accounts I show that the design and framing of Mincome led participants to view payments through a pragmatic lens, rather than the moralistic lens through which welfare is viewed. Consistent with prior theory, this paper finds that Mincome participation did not produce social stigma. More broadly, this paper bears on the feasibility of alternative forms of socioeconomic organization through a consideration of the moral aspects of economic policy. The social meaning of Mincome was sufficiently powerful that even participants with particularly negative attitudes toward government assistance felt able to collect Mincome payments without a sense of contradiction. By obscuring the distinctions between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, universalistic income maintenance programs may weaken social stigmatization and strengthen program sustainability.

David Calnitsky, “‘More Normal than Welfare’: The Mincome Experiment, Stigma, and Community Experience,” Canadian Review of Sociology 53, no. 1, pages 26–71, February 2016

CANADA: Mayor and other elected officials support basic income at a Halifax conference

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On April 9, 2016, the Basic Income Nova Scotia group held a conference titled “Basic Income Guarantee: The Time is Right” at the Halifax Central Library to discuss Basic Income in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The conference attracted many individuals from the east coast of Canada, and beyond. In attendance at the conference was the Halifax Mayor, Mike Savage. He publicly tweeted his support for BI from the conference saying, “Now is the time to take a serious look at basic annual guaranteed income. Today’s talks are needed to end poverty.”

In addition, Waye Mason, the local councillor for Halifax South Downtown, said that he was a fan of the idea of basic income, about which he said, “you’re talking about the best way to help people who are in serious need in terms of economic and health issues that are driven by not having enough money to live comfortably above the poverty line.” He noted that it was “time we really took steps toward implementing it.”

Rob Rainer, from the Basic Income Canada Network, was among those who spoke at the conference. He said, “this is actually a very, very good return on investment. For every dollar we invest in basic income, we’re going to yield multiple dollars in benefits downstream.”

 

For more on the conference, see the following sources:

 

Steve Silva, “‘Time to take a serious look at basic annual guaranteed income’: Halifax mayor” Global News, April 9, 2016

 

Rachel Ward, “Halifax basic income supporters explore poverty issues,” CBC, April 9, 2016

 

Aleksandra Sagan, “Work woes, evolving technology behind push for basic income,” The Canadian Press, Global News, April 17, 2016

 

CANADA: Robert-Falcon Ouellette’s petition to study basic income marked by his own childhood

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

As a youth growing up in Calgary, Robert-Falcon Ouellette remembers being inspired by the 1988 Olympics. Ouellette’s parents struggled financially, and his father was in and out of the picture. But his mother managed enough money so he could enjoy swimming at the City pool where he took to the water “like a fish.”

“I was there as much as possible – I just loved every minute of it,” says Ouellette, who is now Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre.

“Until one day a coach spotted me and invited me to join the University of Calgary swim team.”

The coach talked to both Ouellette and his mother, but the cost was a couple thousand dollars per year. He remembers the coach telling his mom that her son had great natural talent which should be developed. But the financial barrier was too severe for the family. In fact, even the visits to the City pool for leisure swimming soon stopped, also for financial reasons.

“That was a real dream of mine,” says Ouellette. “I’m still marked by it.”

Ouellette, who has gone hungry before as a youth and even spent one summer homeless, says he is sure there are many stories like this that have played out similarly across Canada, many much worse than his. Persistent poverty and lost opportunities are the kinds of things he suspects would dramatically be reduced if Canada had a basic income.

A basic income guarantee can take different forms but it is generally understood to ensure everyone an income that is sufficient to meet their basic needs, regardless of work status. The rookie MP is determined to have empirical evidence of how such a social policy change might benefit Canadian families, by establishing basic income pilot projects in the country.

His determination to have data undoubtedly comes from his depth of education. Ouellette is something of a Renaissance man, with degrees in music, education, and a PhD in anthropology. He also has 19 years under his belt with the Canadian Armed Forces, retiring from the Royal Canadian Navy with the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. Even now, he remains a part of the naval reserve.

The MP, who serves on the House of Commons’ finance committee, recently invited Professor Evelyn Forget to Ottawa to make a presentation because he wants his Party to consider testing the idea in a few regions across Canada, including rural, urban, and on a First Nations’ reserve. Forget was the researcher who unearthed promising data from the well-known Mincome experiment, which ran from 1974 through 1978 and which helped establish a minimum income for about a third of the people who lived there.

Forget dug up the records from the period and found there were fewer emergency room visits and less recorded incidents of domestic abuse. As well, less people sought treatment for mental health issues and more high school students continued on to finish Grade 12 to graduate.

When she appeared before the committee, Forget recommended a basic income of $18,000 per year. It would be paid, when necessary, by using the existing federal tax system. People could still earn money over and above this basic income but Forget recommends it be taxed back at a rate of 50 per cent on each dollar earned over $18,000.

When he was running for a seat in the federal election, Ouellette actually met a woman in a working class neighbourhood of Winnipeg who had been a participant in the Mincome experiment. It was a story Ouellette found inspiring. The Mincome money she received allowed her to go back to school to finish her education while she raised her three sons. Today, two of her sons have their Masters degrees, with one working for the City of Winnipeg and the other for Manitoba Hydro. The third son owns his own business.

“Here’s a single mom who was always just trying to get ahead. She now owns her own, small home and she helped her sons do well. That’s the hope for basic income – that’s why it deserves to be tested,” says the MP.

To that end, Ouellette has sponsored an online petition here to bring pressure and attention to this issue for his own government to support further study. He will likely have some high level supporters in Ottawa. Jean-Yves Duclos, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, stated to several media outlets that a guaranteed minimum income is a policy with merit for discussion. As well, Senator Art Eggleton, has just called on the federal government to launch a basic income pilot.

Quebec has strongly signalled its interest in turning their existing income support tools in the direction of a basic income guarantee and Ontario recently announced it would fund a basic income pilot in an undisclosed location.

“We often hear poor people just make bad choices. Sometimes societies make those choices for us, though. If we have a society that supposedly believes in meritocracy without opportunity, then you don’t have a society of merit you have one of privilege,” he says.

“And as a society we just might be losing out.”

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA: North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress gets under way next month.

The Fifteenth North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress is rapidly approaching. It will take place in Winnipeg, Canada at the University of Manitoba on May 12 – 15. Early bird registration rates are available only until April 20. The detailed program is now available on the Basic Income Canada Network’s website.

From the Basic Income Canada Network

From the Basic Income Canada Network