The 500-page report was 2 years in the making. The result: The panel of three economists rejected a basic income guarantee in favour of fixing the existing hotchpotch of BC income supports and services. It make 65 recommendations on how to do this. Bottom line: It leaves many low-income adults of working age, including single parents (mostly women) and others trying to survive on welfare living in deep poverty.
Category: Media coverage
Charlottetown – The Guardian (10 Dec, 2020): PEI’s Report from the all-party Special Committee on Poverty recommended implementing a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) in PEI as a test case for all of Canada – but it also included a backup plan if the federal government declines to partner with PEI to deliver a province-wide program. Plan B is another pilot reaching one-tenth of the people who need a basic income in PEI. BIG advocates say no to Plan B.
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Pope Frances calls for UBI
The Guardian (24 Nov, 2020): In his new book due out this December, Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future, Pope Francis speaks of the economic, social and political changes he says are needed to address inequalities after the pandemic ends. “Recognizing the value to society of the work of non-earners is a vital part of our rethinking in the post-Covid world… By providing a universal basic income, we can free and enable people to work for the community in a dignified way…” he said.
The Pope also criticized trickle-down economics, the theory that tax breaks and other incentives for big business and the wealthy eventually will benefit the rest of society through investment and job creation. He called it “the false assumption of the infamous trickle-down theory that a growing economy will make us all richer”.
Dr. Evelyn Forget, an economist at the University of Manitoba, explains in the November issue of Policy Options why “A guaranteed minimum income would be more effective than current government programs” and why replacing the raft of recovery benefits with a simple, permanent guaranteed income would be an automatic stabilizer for people and the economy.
Interview: Artpreneur keynote Zainub Verjee on a basic income guarantee for Canadian creatives
Here is an excerpt of the article published in the Ottawa news website Apt613.ca by Ryan Pepper on November 19, 2020
“It’s no secret that the arts sector is in a crisis. COVID-19 restrictions closed venues and institutions in March and many still haven’t reopened—and many, some in Ottawa, won’t open again. This month’s annual Artpreneur conference is dedicating three days to the disruptions in Ottawa’s creative sector. But instead of mourning the loss of venues, incomes, and livelihoods, the conference is looking to the future for sustainable, lasting solutions.
“One of the buzzy proposals is a Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.), which gained popularity after the successful rollout of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The idea now has wide, cross-partisan support…”
Nov 3 @7pm EST
Should Freelancers Advocate for Universal Basic Income
A webinar hosted by :
Canadian Freelance Union/Syndicat canadien des pigistes
Sheila Regehr, Chair of Basic Income Canada Network, responds to Speech from the Throne
The Speech from the Throne began with the message that ‘this is not the time for austerity’ and talked about ‘fighting for every Canadian’. The content is far more status quo than bold or transformative, however, and doesn’t match the rhetoric. Canadians from all sectors and walks of life are calling for a basic income to give everyone a fighting chance but it was glaringly absent.
Basic income, just transition depend on each other, Regehr says
The Energy Mix (September 23, 2020)
The very basic idea is that everyone is part of society and the economy. Everyone should be able to participate and benefit from it. In our modern world that takes money. It’s a matter of human rights and dignity, and it’s a common good, the idea of sharing resources.
But our systems of income security and social protection don’t do that nearly well enough. That’s why we see what COVID has just magnified enormously for us, that we’ve got these problems of poverty, inequality, insecurity, anxiety, systemic discrimination that we’ve been fighting for a long time but obviously haven’t made very many dents.
Senators call for basic income to redress racism and inequality
OTTAWA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020—Senators Lankin, McCallum and Pate hosted a meeting with Indigenous women leaders and MP Leah Gazan to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous women in Manitoba and the place of guaranteed livable basic income in redressing systemic racism and inequality.
National Observer, (September 15, 2020)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has been pressured to make universal basic income policy a top priority as the throne speech, where he is expected to lay out a federal agenda, quickly approaches. Financial programs put in place during the pandemic prove that the government is capable of making it happen.