[Rob Rainer, BICN]
At the Liberal Party of Canada’s biennial convention February 20-23, 2014, held in Montreal, party members voted in favour of two policy resolutions in support of basic income. Resolution #100 was passed as one of 18 “priority” resolutions: see Creating a Basic Annual Income to be Designed and Implemented for a Fair Economy. Resolution #97 was passed as one of 14 resolutions stemming from convention workshops: see Basic Income Supplement: Testing a Dignified Approach to Income Security for Working-Age Canadians. The 32 resolutions passed at the convention (out of more than 160 brought to the floor) are not binding upon the Party’s leadership. However, there is a requirement for the leadership to respond to them. At the least, it is apparent that within the Liberal Party of Canada, as also within the Green Party of Canada, there is explicit openness to and support for basic income. We are aware, too, of degrees of support for basic income within the Conservative and New Democratic parties. This demonstrates once again basic income’s appeal across the political spectrum.
