by Josh Martin | Feb 28, 2016 | News
In the wake of numerous Canadian groups, including the Canadian Medical Association, espousing support for a basic income, Ontario has taken a definitive step forward in committing to studying the idea further by making a budget commitment to undertake a basic income pilot project. While basic income support has been rising in Canada over the past few years, this represents a major breakthrough for the basic income cause in Canada.
According to the full text of the budget, which can be found in this article, the specific text related to the basic income pilot is as follows:
In the 2015 Budget, Ontario introduced a consultation on social assistance rate restructuring. Through ongoing discussions, there emerged a clear consensus on the need to move policy considerations beyond social assistance rates to include aspects of the broader income security system.
As a result, this year, the government will continue to engage with delivery partners, clients and sector advocates to chart the path to comprehensive reform that effectively reduces poverty, supports people in their efforts to participate in the economy, and provides human services in a way that makes sense to the people who need them. This process will look across government and at the broader income security landscape to ensure that various existing and future programs work together to help Ontarians. The government will also engage with First Nation, Inuit and Metis communities to ensure that the path forward recognizes unique challenges on- and off-reserve and helps all Ontarians live a better life.
One area of research that will inform the path to comprehensive reform will be the evaluation of a Basic Income pilot. The pilot project will test a growing view at home and abroad that a basic income could build on the success of minimum wage policies and increases in child benefits by providing more consistent and predictable support in the context of today’s dynamic labour market. The pilot would also test whether a basic income would provide a more efficient way of delivering income support, strengthen the attachment to the labour force, and achieve savings in other areas, such as health care and housing supports. The government will work with communities, researchers and other stakeholders in 2016 to determine how best to design and implement a Basic Income pilot.”
While details of the pilot are still forthcoming, the news of a provincial government committing to a pilot is an exciting development for the future of a basic income in Canada.
by Jenna van Draanen | Feb 19, 2016 | News
Rana Bokhari, leader of the Liberal party in the Canadian province of Manitoba, has come out publicly to say that the party will conduct two basic income pilot projects if they are elected in April 2016.
Their proposed projects bear some similarities to the “Mincome” experiment undertaken in Dauphin and Winnipeg (Manitoba) in the 1970’s. The Mincome experiment, however, was cut short when a new government was elected in 1979, and a final report was never issued. Moreover, the Manitoba liberals believe that those results that were recorded from the Dauphin experiment are now dated, and new data are needed to make accurate policy decisions.
Source: Winnipeg Free Press File Photo of Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari
Bokhari has stated that introducing a guaranteed income has potential to be cost-effective and beneficial. Although she acknowledges that the plan has complications, she believes that its potential payoffs make it well worth trying. As she says, “If we want to reduce poverty, if we want to take care of those who are most vulnerable in our society, we need to start taking a much more aggressive approach.”
Indeed, Bokhari believes that the basic income pilots would give Manitoba the opportunity to position itself at the vanguard of an important global movement, stating “Manitoba can and should lead the country and the world in this area.”
For more on this topic, see:
Larry Kusch, “Liberals would launch two projects to study guaranteed minimum income,” Winnipeg Free Press. January 15, 2016
No Author, “Manitoba Liberals to Pilot Minimum Income Project if Elected,” CBC News. January 15, 2016
by Guest Contributor | Feb 17, 2016 | News
The Globe and Mail, Canada’s main centrist newspaper, reported on Friday 5 February 2016 that a federal government minister “is interested in the idea of a guaranteed [minimum] income.” Mr. Jean-Yves Duclos, the new Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, said, “I’m personally pleased that people are interested in the idea.” Mr. Duclos has a mandate to develop a federal poverty-reduction strategy.
Mr. Duclos is part of the Liberal Party of Canada, which won a parliamentary majority in the October 2015 federal election. The Liberal Party’s progressive electoral platform enabled the party to replace the Conservative party on the left and win many seats previously held by the New Democratic Party (Canada’s social democratic party) on the left. Key election promises included deficit spending to stimulate economic growth, the legalization of marijuana, electoral reform, a concerted effort to tackle climate change and a comprehensive national poverty-reduction strategy. Their strong parliamentary majority has given the party a clear mandate to pursue this progressive agenda in earnest.
However, although efforts to reduce poverty feature prominently in the official Liberal platform, a guaranteed minimum income did not. It is therefore unlikely to form part of Mr. Duclos’ national poverty-reduction strategy during the government’s current four-year term. Nevertheless, The Globe and Mail suggests that Mr. Duclos’ comments could lead to the idea’s inclusion in a future Liberal Party election manifesto. His comments would also seem to have substantial support among Liberal Party members with the 2014 Liberal Party Convention producing two major policy resolutions on a basic income.
Furthermore, the introduction of a federal guaranteed minimum income might not be such a difficult sell with Canada’s provincial governments, all of which would have to participate in such an initiative. It was announced in January 2016 that Mr. François Blais, Québec’s new Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, will work towards introducing a provincial guaranteed minimum income. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party of Manitoba has pledged to introduce two guaranteed minimum income pilot projects if the party wins the provincial elections in April 2016.
Written by: Jon West
For more details on this story see:
Bill Curry, “Guaranteed income has merit as a national policy, minister says,” The Globe and Mail. February 5, 2016.
Credit picture CC UNU-WIDER
by Josh Martin | Jan 24, 2016 | News
In 2014, the Liberal party passed Policy Resolution 100, pledging to create a “Basic Annual Income” for Canada. Brean’s article discusses this resolution in context of the Liberal party’s recent electoral success and plans for the current government. By providing thorough context of the basic income movement and support in Canada—from recent publicity in Alberta, Prince Edward Island, and other places as well as the research conducted by Evelyn Forget at the University of Manitoba on the “Mincome” experiment in the 1970s—Brean’s article concisely summarizes many of the key factors in the debate on a basic income in Canada.
Joseph Brean, “Prospect of minimum income gaining steam as Canada clamours for new ways to manage welfare and benefits”, Montreal Gazette, 27 December 2015.
by Josh Martin | Jan 18, 2016 | News
Following their announcement of support for a basic income, Saskatchewan’s New Democrats have received congratulations from the Saskatchewan Green Party for joining such calls. In correspondence with Basic Income News, Victor Lau, the Leader of the Sask Green Party, noted that the NDP debated the Sask Green Party in the last general election in 2011 and repudiated the Green Party’s support for the basic income, instead choosing to support social welfare and the social workers who are employed to administer those programs. Since then, Saskatchewan’s NDP has changed its tune.
The Saskatchewan Green Party has costed out a guaranteed basic income, titled the Sask Assured Income for Everyone, in their “Real Change” platform for 2016.
For more information on the Saskatchewan Green Party, here is the link for their website.
For more information on the Saskatchewan New Democrats, here is the link for their website.
