Canadians support guaranteed income, but don't want to pay for it
Most Canadians support guaranteed incomes of either $10,000, $20,000, or $30,000 per adult. Each of these amounts was presented to one-third of survey respondents, and in each case, at least twice as many say they would support such a program as say they would oppose it
- At the same time, six-in-ten Canadians (59%) believe the guaranteed income concept would be too expensive to implement nationwide, and just one-in-three (34%) would be willing to pay more in taxes to support such a program
- Almost two-thirds of Canadians (63%) believe new technology is likely to eliminate more jobs than it creates
Historically, most economists have believed that continual improvements in technology, while rendering some jobs obsolete, would always eventually create more jobs than they eliminated. In recent years,
some have begun to question this belief.
The prevailing opinion of many is now that – just as horses were rendered obsolete in the workforce by machinery at the turn of the 20th century – human workers, too, face the prospect of losing their relevance in the workplace
Most Canadians (63%) believe the concern that new technology will reduce the availability of jobs, rather than increase it, is a serious one:
Basic Income? Basically unaffordable, say most Canadians - Angus Reid Institute
