Ontario government set to reveal details on basic income pilot project

globalnews.ca
April 24, 2017
By David Shum

The Ontario government is expected to release details today of its highly anticipated pilot project to provide basic income to those living at or below the poverty line.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is scheduled to make the announcement alongside Minister of Community and Social Services Helena Jaczek and Minister of Housing Chris Ballard in Hamilton, Ont. on Monday.

The province has already earmarked $75 million for the three-year pilot project which is set to begin this year.

The criteria for implementing the basic income plan is based on a discussion paper released by former senator Hugh Segal last fall, who recommended a monthly income of $1,320 with another $500 for people with disabilities, to replace the Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program.

The government recently completed a three-month public consultation phase in which 1,200 participants attended and over 34,000 online surveys were filled out.

A report on the consultation feedback released in March revealed that many agreed the pilot participants should be between the ages of 18 to 64 and living in various settings such as urban, rural and northern locations.

Basic income has only been tried once before in Canada back in the 1970s in Dauphin, Man.

A subsequent study found hospital visits and domestic abuse dropped, with the rate of high school completion going up.

However, critics argue the strategy can discourage people from working and may simply be a Band-Aid solution to poverty.

“Poverty is much more than just a lack of income,” Charles Lamman, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute, said. “There are fundamental root drivers of poverty, things like mental health, addiction that a guaranteed income can’t fix.”

Segal wrote in his discussion paper that the pilot should look at health outcomes for those involved as well as the life and career choices they make, education outcomes, work behaviour, changes in food security and impacts on their housing arrangements.