On December 16, 2021, Member of Parliament Leah Gazan (NDP Winnipeg Centre) introduced Private Member Bill C-223 in the House of Commons for first reading (read text here). If passed by the House, this would establish the first national framework for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income for all persons over 17 across Canada (watch the video here). On the same day, in solidarity and support of Bill C-233, Senator Kim Pate introduced the same bill in the Senate as Bill S-233.
Category: News
Toronto Arts Council supports a federal Basic Income Guarantee
See the opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail, on March 20, 2021, and in La Presse on March 25. PDF of the article here.
Victoria – The Tyee (Jan 07, 2021): Emergency benefits showed the value of ensuring all Canadians are guaranteed enough money to meet basic needs. A basic income program could have saved lives and reduced COVID-19 transmission when the pandemic struck last spring, says Evelyn Forget, economist and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. And basic income, as both a health and a poverty reduction policy, could still help people weather the second wave and those to come, says Forget.
December 17, 2020: The Royal Society of Canada released Renewing the Social Contract: Economic Recovery in Canada from Covid-19. Authored by 11 leading Canadian academics in the fields of economics, law, environment and health, the report provides 16 recommendations in 4 key areas: (1) Renewing the social contract; (2) Reinvigorating the Canadian economy for Innovation and resilience; (3) Enabling innovation; and (4) Improving crisis policy response. Their #1 recommendation to renew the social contract is to establish a basic income guarantee. They also recommend ensuring paid sick leave, universal childcare that provides Early Childhood Education. To pay for these they recommend comprehensive tax reform that calls for taxing all income earned from capital gains the same way we tax earnings and also re-instituting an inheritance tax in order to address inequality.
The Royal Society of Canada published a new report by leading Canadian economists that make 16 recommendation in four areas to support economic recovery in Canada from COVID-19: renewing the social contract; reinvigorating the economy; enabling innovation; and improving crisis policy responses. The first recommendation from this report is that Canada establish a basic income guarantee (BIG). Read the full report here.
Categories
Canada’s poor continue to be told “not yet”
The Senate – 9 Dec, 2020: Using a rare procedural step to oppose the second reading of Bill C-17, an Act granting money for federal public administration to the end of March 2021, Senator Kim Pate made a stunning speech in the Senate Chamber. Despite promises from the federal government, 3.5 million Canadians living below the poverty line continue to be excluded from income support programs like CERB and enhancements to EI, because the government says “not yet” to those living in deepest poverty. Read or watch this brilliant and impactful speech here.
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.
This video celebrates and shares performances, speeches and calls to action by and from politicians, artists and concerned Toronto residents. The Time for Basic Income is NOW.
This video features performances and statements by:
- Multidisciplinary artists Craig Berggold: 00:00
- Musician Rachael Cardiello: 04:32
- Politician and activist Leah Gazan: 10:32
- Artist Jessie Golem (Humans of Basic Income): 15:30
- Poet and professor George Elliott Clarke: 23:38
- Politician and author Rima Berns-McGown: 26:58
- Musician Amy The Coda: 29:02
- Politician and activist Dr. Jill Andrew: 32:29
- Cultural worker Philip Zave: 35:09
- Musician Tara Kannangara: 37:53
Created by the Toronto Artists for Basic Income group.
Carfac Webinar Series
Universal Basic Income webinar, on September 16 at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, organized by CARFAC.
What is Universal Basic Income? Why is it important to artists? How would UBI work in Canada?
Join independent artists Adrian Stimson and Craig Berggold, and Sheila Regehr from Basic Income Canada Network for a discussion about how Canadians would benefit from UBI as a social safety net during uncertain times. The discussion will be moderated by artist Sydney Lancaster.
View this town hall co-hosted by Coalition Canada: basic income – revenu de base and the Green Party of Canada, now up on Youtube. Over 550 people tuned into this town hall held on September 17, 2020.
Facilitated by Green MP Paul Manly, this town hall featured guest speakers Senator Kim Pate, Dr. Evelyn Forget (on the economics of Basic Income), Monika Ciolek (on her experience participating in Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot), Dr. Robert Case (on basic Income and social and environmental disruption) and Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier (Basic Income and gender equity and the deserving and undeserving poor).
