By Chloe Halpenny
Ottawa Citizen (July 3, 2020).
The logic behind supporting a basic income is straightforward. It could provide a much-needed foothold in housing and rental markets that feel increasingly inaccessible.
With collective Canadian student debt a whopping $28 billion as of 2018, it would make it easier to enter and remain in post-secondary education. And given that young people are disproportionately concentrated in precarious work, a basic income responds to the reality that having a job doesn’t necessarily mean being able to put food on the table.
Chloe Halpenny is the vice-chair of the Basic Income Canada Youth Network.