Ontario Moving Forward with Basic Income

[tay]

The province has appointed the Honourable Hugh Segal to provide advice on the design and implementation of a Basic Income Pilot in Ontario, as announced in the 2016 Budget.

Basic income, or guaranteed annual income, is a payment to eligible families or individuals that ensures a minimum level of income. Ontario will design and implement a pilot program to test the growing view that a basic income could help deliver income support more efficiently, while improving health, employment and housing outcomes for Ontarians.

As Special Advisor on Basic Income, Mr. Segal will draw on his expertise in Canadian and international models of basic income and consult with thought leaders to help Ontario design a pilot.

Mr. Segal will deliver a discussion paper to the province by the fall to help inform the design and implementation of the pilot, on a pro bono basis. The discussion paper will include advice about potential criteria for selecting target populations and/or locations, delivery models and advice about how the province could evaluate the results of the Basic Income Pilot. Ontario will undertake further engagement with experts, communities and other stakeholders as it moves towards design and implementation.

Supporting Ontarians through a Basic Income Pilot is part of the government's economic plan to build Ontario up and deliver on its number-one priority to grow the economy and create jobs. The four-part plan includes investing in talent and skills, including helping more people get and create the jobs of the future by expanding access to high-quality college and university education. The plan is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in Ontario's history and investing in a low-carbon economy driven by innovative, high-growth, export-oriented businesses. The plan is also helping working Ontarians achieve a more secure retirement.

https://news.ontario.ca/mcss/en/2016/06/ontario-moving-forward-with-basic-income-pilot.html

 

[Walter]

As with all Liberal policies this will fail but that only means more money will be spent on it trying to prop it up.

 

[Angstrom]

Where is my free cell phone?

 

[mentalfloss]

Nice!

 

[Angstrom]

You can only achieve greater prosperity by giving the people the ability to provide for themselves.

You can't achieve prosperity by making people more dependent on something other then themselves for their survival.

 

[lone wolf]

Damn! Can I get some back pay - like right to Feb 28 1993 - the day I REALLY learned what Ontario bullshyte and beating is all about?

 

[Danbones]

why not just drop taxes

 

[lone wolf]

...and the delivery fee from Hydro

 

[SLM]

why not just drop taxes

...and the delivery fee from Hydro

What!?! That's too easy!!!!

Remember, it's not a government plan unless it's needlessly complicated and/or unnecessary.

 

[petros]

Wouldn't jobs be a better idea?

 

[SLM]

Wouldn't jobs be a better idea?

Better idea? Better idea?????

Petros, Petros, Petros! This is the government we're talking about.

Governments don't have good ideas, let alone better ones.

 

[ziebart]

Not a bad idea, you get rid of welfare, EI, Canada pension and many other forms of crap bureaucracy while guaranteeing a basic income which streams into the local economy.

It's worth a try and it's been done before with success.

I do share concerns about the current governments ability to implement such a program given they are the worst miss-mangers of Ontario in it's history.

 

[Angstrom]

Not a bad idea, you get rid of welfare, EI, Canada pension and many other forms of crap bureaucracy while guaranteeing a basic income which streams into the local economy.

It's worth a try and it's been done before with success.

I do share concerns about the current governments ability to implement such a program given they are the worst miss-mangers of Ontario in it's history.

You can only achieve greater prosperity by giving the people the ability to provide for themselves.

You can't achieve prosperity by making people more dependent on something other then themselves for their survival.

 

[lone wolf]

There will always be the few who think their bottoms are safe from the bottom line

 

[ziebart]

You can only achieve greater prosperity by giving the people the ability to provide for themselves.

You can't achieve prosperity by making people more dependent on something other then themselves for their survival.

Perhaps, but in our system their will always be a large portion left out of prosperity. I don't see a problem with a basic income when it eliminates all the other government bureaucratic garbage.

Just like a flat tax, what's wrong with it?

I know many tax lawyers and accountants who like things the way they are.

 

[Angstrom]

Perhaps, but in our system their will always be a large portion left out of prosperity. I don't see a problem with a basic income when it eliminates all the other government bureaucratic garbage.

Just like a flat tax, what's wrong with it?

I know many tax lawyers and accountants who like things the way they are.

Then it's fairly easy to predict continued economical stagnation

If we are at the point that we need to borrow on our immigrants children's ability to eventually pay, to keep some present people from starving to death. We can all agree at this point that our sociaty is already destroyed and has been given the ability to live in denial of the reality.

 

[tay]

Majority support Ontario’s basic income plan, but many find $17,000 not enough

It’s well below the poverty line

Of those who support the program, almost 40 per cent think the nearly $17,000 annual sum is “too little.”

“It’s not munificent,” said Osberg. “It’s well below the poverty line.”

Osberg pointed out that the survey question told respondents that welfare services would be cut in favour of basic income, but didn’t specify which ones.

“It’s sometimes those other social supports that people really need. People who are paralyzed need wheelchairs, right?” he said.

“That’s where the devil really gets to be in the details. Do you really want to say that regardless of whether I need a wheelchair or a ramp into my house, you and I get exactly the same $17,000?”

While the federal NDP have publicly called for a study on a federal basic income pilot project and the Greens are strongly in support, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he won’t implement a federal program right now.

In the meantime, Yufest said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals are “potentially siphoning some of those NDP and Green supporters into their camp.”

Now, he said, all eyes are on Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay to see how things shake out.

“If it does go well, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the key planks of the (provincial) Liberal electoral platform,” said Yufest.

Majority support Ontario’s basic income plan, but many find $17,000 not enough: poll

 

[Danbones]

you saw the thread about the all robot Mcdonalds in pheonix?

 

[tay]

you saw the thread about the all robot Mcdonalds in pheonix?

Yes, once again I have seen that story and I will comment on it in that thread.

That aside there are real job losses happening to outsourcing and automation so most of the population will have to be on a Basic Income to survive.......

 

[tay]

Canadians have been very clear. We believe the growing inequality in our country is unacceptable.

In a recent poll commissioned by the Broadbent Institute, an overwhelming 84 per cent of people said they consider the gap between the rich and the rest of us a problem. The same poll found there's broad support for government action on the issue, from cutting down on the wealthiest hiding money in tax shelters, to increasing the minimum wage and putting more money toward income assistance programs.

Our own polling at Community Food Centres Canada also shows people are genuinely concerned about our fraying social safety net and high levels of food insecurity -- a key marker of poverty -- in this country. Three out of four people feel the issue is getting worse and believe the government should be doing more to address it.

So where's the government action?

In April, the Ontario government made headlines by announcing it will roll out a Basic Income Pilot for low-income people in four municipalities. It's a step in the right direction, to be sure, but the devil will be in the details. Meanwhile, anti-poverty activists watched the release of the 2017 budget hoping to see a down payment on this commitment -- a serious investment in the poverty crisis, now.

But the government failed to address the urgency of this issue when it announced just a meagre two per cent increase to social assistance rates.

For the poorest Ontarians, it's simply inadequate. For individuals living on welfare it translates to just over $14 more a month. This, as the cost of living in the province continues to skyrocket. If the Ontario government truly wants to reduce inequality and enable people to live with health and dignity, they're going to have to do better than that.

On the federal stage, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development has been leading consultations on the National Poverty Reduction Strategy, consultations that will wrap up in June. There is a real opportunity to develop a strategy that, backed by major dollars and clear timelines, will make a real difference for the nearly five million Canadians currently living in poverty.

But there wasn't a single mention of the strategy in the government's spring budget. And while the feds' promised investment in affordable housing is welcome, the government missed the opportunity to make immediate impact in low-income communities through such supports as improving income adequacy and access to the CPP disability benefit or increasing the Canada Child Benefit.

So, where's the disconnect? Why all the inequality-busting rhetoric but very little concrete action in the here and now? It's not for lack of public support, if you can believe the polls. And it's not for lack of evidence that strong income support programs work: as soon as a person reaches 65, they become eligible for Old Age Security and the GIS, and the likelihood that they'll be food insecure is cut in half. The impact on their health, and on the public purse, is considerable.

How do we make ending poverty a real -- not a rhetorical -- exercise? Can we simply lay the blame on politicians for not taking decisive action? What role do we play?

We can't ever forget that we, as citizens, give politicians the courage to move in one direction or another. If we want them to be bold on the poverty file, we need to go beyond nice words in polls and give our politicians no choice but to take meaningful action. Change starts with us.

If you agree, join us and thousands of other Canadians in pushing our governments to go beyond consultations and invest in making Canada a more equitable country. Write and visit your elected representatives. That's what they're there for -- let's not let them off the hook. Support a non-profit or coalition advocating for social justice, like the Dignity for All campaign, which is working to create a poverty-free Canada.