by Kate McFarland | Aug 6, 2016 | News
BIEN co-founder Guy Standing will be participating in Social Canada Revisited, a conference on the architecture of Canadian social policy, to be held in Kingston, Ontario from August 22-24.
Standing will speak on a panel on income security, which is scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, August 23. He’ll be joined by Miles Corak–an economist at the University of Ottawa who researches child rights, poverty, immigration, social and economic mobility, unemployment, and social policy.
Topics of other panels include equality of opportunity, social inclusion, and public opinion, among others. According to a synopsis of the theme of the conference:
[S]ome Canadians have consistently fallen through the cracks [of Canada’s social policy architecture], most significantly Canada’s indigenous people. And contemporary economic, labour market and social dynamics are posing new challenges. The labour market is increasingly skewed between high and low skilled jobs; income growth is stagnant for many; younger Canadians struggle to secure sustainable career and life paths; many young and old alike worry about retirement income; and new cracks have appeared in Canada’s increasingly diverse social fabric.
Kingston, Ontario has already been considering basic income as a response to such contemporary economy challenges. In December 2015, it became the first municipality in Canada to pass a motion endorsing basic income, calling on the governments of Ontario and Canada “to research, develop, implement and evaluate a Basic Income Guarantee for all citizens” as a means to “reduce income insufficiency, insecurity, and inequality.” Kingston city council sent copies of its successful motion to other municipal governments — some of which, such as Waterloo, have followed Kingston’s lead in endorsing basic income.
One goal of the conference is to “examine persistent and/or new social fault-lines and ask where new approaches and new thinking are needed.” Given Standing’s participation at the conference, and Kingston’s own important position in Ontario’s basic income movement, one can guess that basic income will be among the “new approaches” discussed.
For more information about Social Canada Revisited, including a full schedule of speakers and sessions, see the event’s webpage from the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University.
Queen’s University photo CC polannahowie
Thanks, as always, to my supporters on Patreon!
by Guest Contributor | Aug 3, 2016 | News
For the Forum’s press release, click here.
Revenu de base Québec (RBQ) and the Mouvement Français pour un Revenu de Base (MFRB) have teamed up to organize a series of initiatives spanning this years World Social Forum, to be held from August 9th – 14th in Montreal.
Various activities will be organized to help people learn, create and exchange views on a number of issues relating to basic income. Hoping to advance the idea during one of the largest global gatherings of civil society.
Discover the program (in French here):
Créathon
In the style of a “hackathon” this creative marathon will be held over two and a half days and bringing together creators from different backgrounds: art, activism, technology, etc., who share an interest in basic income.
Wednesday, August 10th: 13h-18h
Thursday, August 11th: 9h-18h
Friday, August 12th: 9h-17h
Location: UQAM – Pavillon Hubert-Aquin, rooms A-1824 and A-1825
Ğeconomicus game
Ğeconomicus is an economic simulation game to discover the influence of money creation on trade. Players will buy and sell economic values in order to create new ones. There will be two sessions.
Wednesday, August 10th: 13h-15h
Friday, August 12th: 13h-15h
Location: UQAM – Pavillon Hubert-Aquin, Room A-1825
Convergence Assembly: “Basic income: From realistic utopia to public policy”
The goal of this convergence meeting is to bring together activists from all backgrounds to reflect on methods and actions to be taken at all different levels when it comes to turning the ideas of a realistic utopia into public policy. The scope extends from municipal politics to international politics, through experiments, and creating synergies between the various actors of civil society.
Wednesday, August 10th: 16h-18h
UQAM – Room A 1824 (Pavillon Hubert-Aquin)
Convergence Assembly: “Income, a non-medical remedy?”
An assembly of healthcare workers, people active in helping the poor, activists of basic income and anyone interested in the link between income and health, in order to find common ground and ways to work together.
Thursday, August 11th: 16h-18h
UQAM – Room A 1824 (Pavillon Hubert-Aquin)
Debate: “The universal allowance and the maximum wealth”
Can a basic income be implemented without its corollary, maximum wealth? With the explosion of inequality and tax competition between states that threaten social achievements, market regulation through a “floor” and “ceiling” of income and individual capital seems like a promising idea in the direction of greater social and economic justice.
Thursday, August 11th: 13h-15h
UQÀM – (Pavillon Hubert-Aquin, room A-1825)
Grand Conference “Basic income: social innovation for the 21st century”
Friday, August 12th: 18h- 7:30 p.m.
Concordia University (Hall Building, room H-110)
For the Grand Conference, we will welcome the participation of stakeholders from various backgrounds who will paint a picture of the situation of basic income around the world:
Karl Widerquist
Associate professor at SFS-Qatar Georgetown University (Washington DC). He holds a PhD in Economics from the City University of New York and a doctorate in political theory from Oxford University. He participated in six books. Many relate to basic income, including his latest: Independence, Propertylessness, and Basic Income: A Theory of Freedom as the Power to Say No (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He is a founder and editor of the journal Basic Income Studies. His articles have also appeared in several magazines including: Political Studies; The Eastern Economic Journal; Politics and Society; and Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He is co-chair of Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), the leading global network of research and action on the basis of income.
Marcus Brancaglione
He describes himself as a “libertarian activist of basic income and direct democracy.” He is the president of ReCivitas, coordinating a basic income guarantee project in the city of Quatinga Velho, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is the creator of the digital platform for direct democracy Governe-se.com and alternative IP site RobinRight.org. He has published articles and books and is regularly invited to give lectures on these subjects.
Rutger Bregman
Historian and opinion shaper, he is the author of several books, he is best known as one of the editors of the permanent media platform online De Correspondent, created in 2013, when his book De geschiedenis van de vooruitgang was named by the Dutch to be the brightest non-fiction book of the year. In 2015, he co-wrote with Jesse Frederik the philosophical essay Waarom vuilnismannen meer dan verdien Bankiers. The English translation of his latest book, Utopia for Realists, gave him a far reaching international reputation.
Nicole Teke
Coordinator of Public Relations for MFRB and secretary of the European network UBIE, she will also participate in the Main Conference as the host and a speaker to present the progress of basic income in Europe.
Pre-registration to the activities on basis income come from all continents, it will be a truly global forum on the subject.
More information: https://site-845609-9101-5923.strikingly.com/
Contacts:
RBQ: gosselin.luc@gmail.com
MFRB: nicole.teke@revenudebase.info
by Kate McFarland | Jul 10, 2016 | News
On June 22, 2016, the Waterloo Regional Council passed a resolution endorsing basic income.
More specifically, the resolution encourages the governments of Ontario and Canada “to research, develop, implement and evaluate a Basic Income Guarantee for all citizens,” and expresses the municipality’s support in these initiatives.
The Waterloo Regional Council also declared that it would forward the resolution to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, to encourage them to consult the municipality in the “development and evaluation of the pilot project to be implemented in Ontario.” The council hopes that Waterloo will be considered as a test site for the pilot.
As the resolution describes, the Waterloo Region has been plagued by food insecurity due to low income. A basic income guarantee “would reduce income insufficiency, insecurity, and inequality and ensure everyone an income sufficient to meet basic needs and live in dignity regardless of work status.”
The successful motion originated with the Kingston City Council, which, on December 15, 2015, became Canada’s first municipality to endorse basic income. At this time, the Kingston City Council forwarded their motion to support basic income to all other municipalities in the province of Ontario.
As of the time of this writing, Waterloo is the largest municipality in Ontario to support a basic income guarantee, according to a report by Roderick Benns for Leaders and Legacies (also posted to the Basic Income Canada Network blog).
References:
Keely Phillips, “Region of Waterloo Endorses Basic Income,” Basic Income Waterloo Region, June 23, 2016.
Roderick Benns, “Waterloo Region becomes largest municipality in Ontario to support basic income resolution,” Leaders and Legacies, June 30, 2016.
Background:
Joe Timothy, “Kingston is first municipality to endorse basic income,” Basic Income News, December 24, 2015.
Joe Timothy, “Ontario is Ready to Test a Basic Income,” Basic Income News, April 1, 2016.
André Coelho, “Ontario reaches further into basic income implementation,” Basic Income News, June 26, 2016.
Photo: Uptown Waterloo CC Andre Recnik
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon. (Click the link to learn how to support my work for Basic Income News.)
by Kate McFarland | Jul 3, 2016 | News
Revenu de base Québec (RBQ) and Mouvement Français pour un Revenu de Base (MFRB) have developed a program on basic income that will take place as part of the 2016 World Social Forum, held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from August 9-14. World Social Forum events often draw tens of thousands of participants.
This basic income Creation Marathon will span 2 ½ days (from Wednesday, August 10 to Friday, August 12) and take place at the University of Quebec.
Referred to as a “creathon” by its organizers, the program has been inspired by the Bay Area’s two “Basic Income Create-A-Thons,” held in San Francisco and Los Angeles in November and April (respectively), and the “Basic Income Hack“ in Finland last March.
Like these other recent events, the Creation Marathon will bring together artists, activists, programmers, and other creative individuals to produce ideas and materials for raising awareness of and support for basic income.
The event will be multilingual (English, French, Spanish), though the lingua franca will be English.
Registration for the World Social Forum is required to attend.
More information on the creathon (in both English and French) is available at Eventbrite here.
Photo of Université du Québec à Montréal CC Jeangagnon
Thanks to Asha Pond for reviewing a draft this write-up.
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon. (To see how you too can support my work for Basic Income News, click the link.)
by Andre Coelho | Jun 29, 2016 | News
(Picture: credit to CBC News)
It seems that food prices are quite high in Canada’s remote northern locations. This is made clear in a recent article, posted at CBC News, highlighting an important Food Bank Conference which took place in Thunder Bay (Canada), from the 12th through 14th of June. These high prices, of course, affect the ability of food banks to access “high-quality, high protein food”, which translates into higher costs and, ultimately, less availability of these foods.
Chris Hatch, who leads Mississauga Food Bank and also the Ontario Association of Food Banks, showed his concerns over the fact that many other Food Bank delegates were not aware of these higher prices, but also emphasized that this conference gave them the opportunity to discuss some of Ontario’s Liberal government initiatives. Among these initiatives is basic income, a policy that was particularly highlighted and discussed at this venue, mainly due to its potential benefits such as getting people out of poverty. With less poverty, better nutrition standards are likely to follow, as already observed in basic income trials in India and Namibia, for instance.
It is also noteworthy that Rob Reiner, long time basic income advocate and ex-officio advisor to Basic Income Canada Network Board of Directors, was a keynote speaker at this conference, as presented in its Program.
More information at:
“Ontario Food Bank conference wraps up in Thunder Bay“, CBC News, June 15th 2016
Ontario Association of Food Banks, 2016 OAFB Conference
