Québec solidaire vows to establish guaranteed minimum income

A Québec solidaire government would launch a pilot project to establish a guaranteed minimum income in several Quebec municipalities, party co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said on Wednesday.

More than 800,000 people live in poverty in Quebec, with more than half of them on welfare, according to the leftist party.

Québec solidaire believes a wellpaid job remains the best way to get out of poverty. That said, with welfare payments of $648 per month, and $1,035 for people with severe impediments to finding work, it is difficult to rise above poverty, Nadeau-Dubois said.

He listed the social and economic costs associated with poverty: more crime, higher dropout rates, health problems and a lower life expectancy, for example.

Nadeau-Dubois says the pilot project would show whether a guaranteed basic income would better support vulnerable people, in a simpler, more effective way than the current welfare system. During a second QS mandate, the system would be installed across Quebec, to replace the welfare system.

During the pilot project, the government would increase welfare payments.

Individuals with severe impediments to employment would see their monthly payments rise by $440, to about $1,500, while payments to individuals without impediments to employment would go up by $430, to a total of just over $1,000 per month.

Also on Wednesday, the former Parti Québécois candidate in the Laurier-Dorion riding in 2014 and leadership hopeful for the PQ in 2015, Pierre Céré, pledged his support for the QS candidate in Laurier-Dorion, Andrés Fontecilla. The two politicians had vied for the seat during the last general election.

Presse Canadienne