Social assistance reimagined

Upcoming conference will discuss poverty cures, other social change ideas

Academics, economists and activists from around the world are at McGill to weigh the pros and cons of replacing existing social programs with a flat income. Peggy Curran examines the poverty-fighting concept.

Imagine if every Canadian started out with enough money to put a roof over their head, feed and clothe themselves and go to college — with or without a job?

Replacing traditional social programs such as welfare, disability and old age supplements, a single universal payment would aim at eradicating poverty, with particular benefit for people who don’t qualify for help under existing programs — the working poor.

On Friday, more than 100 academics, economists and activists for social change from around the world will gather at McGill University’s Law Faculty for the 15th International Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network.

Over three days of talks and workshops, they will weigh the pros and cons of replacing existing programs with a flat income that would not be contingent on a means test or a work requirement.

“I don’t think there is any debate that welfare is not enough, particularly if you are trying to raise a family,” said Jonathan Brun, Quebec spokesperson for the Basic Income Canada Network. “The political class is beginning to see that something needs to be done to address the growing inequalities in our societies.”

Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberals identified a basic guaranteed income as a priority at the party’s policy convention in Montreal last winter. Ensuring every Quebecer had a living income was a key plank in Québec solidaire’s election platform.

Philippe Couillard’s Quebec government hasn’t made any promises, but there’s no denying the concept has high levels of support within the cabinet. François Blais, the former dean of social sciences at Université Laval who is now the minister of employment and social security, wrote a book called Ending Poverty: A Basic Income for All Canadians.

In Quebec, basic welfare for an adult without dependants or disabilities is just over $600 a month, or $7,200 a year.

Meanwhile, a person who works full-time at a minimum wage job — Quebec’s hourly rate is $10.35 — earns $414 a week, or $21,528 a year, before taxes.

A few years ago, a Quebec government work group on tackling poverty recommended an annual basic income of $12,000.

“For a single working mother with two children, that would make a huge difference in her quality of life,” Brun said.

There are still a lot of issues to be worked out about how basic income would work, and how much it would pay in any given jurisdiction.

Some researchers have sug- gested exemptions, such as for prisoners, since keeping people in penitentiaries is already a substantial financial burden on the state.

Brun said he loves the fact guaranteed income has advocates at both ends of the political spectrum.

“People on the right seeing it as a way to eliminate bureaucracy,” he said, while people on the left laud it as progressive social policy for the poor. “It puts a floor under their feet, relieves the mental anxiety and gives them options.”

In the decades since the idea was formally introduced in 1986, no countries have adopted a guaranteed income.

However, Brazil offers a guaranteed allowance to families with young children, while Alaska and oil-rich Middle East countries such as Qatar send citizens an annual cheque based on earnings from oil extraction and other natural resources.

This fall, Switzerland will hold a referendum that proposes a guaranteed income of 25,000 Swiss francs ($30,000 Canadian) for each adult citizen.

“Switzerland is quite an expensive place to live,” Brun said.

Results of the referendum won’t be binding on the Swiss government, but Brun sees it as a sign that consensus is building.

“It takes one crazy person to do something first to make everyone else look sane.”