Judicial review requested over cancelled basic income pilot

September 6, 2018
Thestar.com
Kristin Rushowy

In yet another case before the courts seeking to overturn a decision by the Ford government, a Lindsay lawyer is now asking for a judicial review of the cancellation of the basic income pilot project.

Mike Perry, who is representing the same four pilot participants in a proposed class-action lawsuit, said papers have been filed on their behalf for the review and the matter is scheduled to be heard in Lindsay Oct. 16.

Lisa Macleod, Ontario's children, community and social services minister, says the basic income pilot project will be wound down in a compassionate way. MacLeod’s press secretary said “the government will make sure that the appropriate supports are in place.”

“It was a three-year commitment and the government needs to honour their commitment,” said Perry of the decision to wind-down the research project a year early, at the end of the fiscal year next March.

“This out-of-the-blue decision to cancel the basic income pilot … had a horrible impact on people here in Lindsay” where 2,000 were signed up, said Perry, who is assisting the recipients pro bono.

“Plans were made that you can’t just put back in the bottle in seven months,” said Perry, who is also a social worker.

The basic income pilot project, which began under the previous Liberal government in April 2017, was to last until 2020. It will now end after two years, on March 31.

It enrolled recipients in Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay, providing them with an income of $16,989 -- or up to $24,027 for couples -- while researchers studied the impact of the stable, enhanced funds on their lives and health.

Before the election, a senior official with Doug Ford’s campaign promised a Progressive Conservative government would see the project through to the end.

In announcing the wind-down date last week, the province’s minister of community and social services said “a research project that helps less than 4,000 people is not the answer and provides no hope to the nearly 2 million Ontarians who are trapped in the cycle of poverty.”

“We are winding down the basic income research project in a compassionate way,” said Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod.

On Wednesday, MacLeod’s press secretary said “our focus now is to support a smooth transition for each individual.”

Derek Rowland said the “participants will receive a phone call and a follow-up letter from the ministry” during the transition and that “the government will make sure that the appropriate supports are in place. For example, if someone left Ontario Works to join the basic income project, they will be reinstated to that program, if eligible.”

But Perry said the agreement the recipients signed on to did not have an “escape clause … the government does not get to just arbitrarily decide a seven-month termination.

“The case isn’t about ‘compassion’ -- it’s about fairness, honouring commitments and treating people properly,” he said in a telephone interview.

It remains unclear what will happen to the research gathered to date, which includes a survey conducted with all participants during the intake process.

Upwards of 40 researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital and McMaster University are involved.

MacLeod has said that if the basic income pilot project was expanded across the province, it would cost $17 billion. She is promising a review of social assistance and poverty-reduction plans with a report Nov. 8.

The Ford government is currently facing a number of court challenges. They include challenges to its decision to cut the number of Toronto councillors during an election period, repealing the current sex-ed curriculum and for creating a “snitch” line for parents to report teachers.

The government was recently slapped by the courts for treating Tesla Motors Canada unfairly when it ended rebates for electric vehicles.