Coalition Canada
On Thursday, a coalition of more than 300 Canadian artists, arts workers, and institutions publicly released a letter addressed to prime minister Justin Trudeau and other high-ranking officials urging the creation of a permanent basic-income guarantee nationwide.
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CBC, The Canadian Press, Entertainment, Jul 17, 2020.
By Iglika Ivanova
The Tyee (July 17, 2020)
The COVID-19 crisis has caused unprecedented job losses across Canada, and B.C. has not been spared. Between February and May almost 590,000 B.C. workers lost their jobs or more than half their hours — 23 per cent of all workers employed in February. Despite a slight recovery of jobs in May and June, the scale of job losses and disruptions far exceed those seen in typical recessions.
While all sectors of the economy have been affected, the labor market hit has worsened existing inequalities. Lower paid workers in part-time, temporary and more precarious jobs where much more likely to lose their jobs or the majority of their hours than those in higher paid, more secure jobs.
Iglika Ivanova is a senior economist and the public interest researcher at the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
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.
By Senator Kim Pate
PEI’s The Guardian (May 26, 2020).
Cradled in the reverberating waves of COVID-19, P.E.I.’s special committee on poverty is a beacon of hope to Canadians. At the conclusion of its work, P.E.I. could be poised to lead the way by being the first province or territory to forge a plan to implement a basic income guarantee (BIG) for all whose income falls below an established level.
COVID-19 has spurred a renewed interest in BIG. Now more than ever, most Canadians understand the need for support sufficient for an individual to live in dignity. Despite feeling relatively secure prior to the pandemic, too many are now painfully aware of how precarious seemingly secure jobs and businesses can be and how easy it is to fall through the cracks of current income supports.
Senator Kim Pate is one of the co-authors of a recent letter from 50 senators calling for guaranteed livable income/basic income.