Shooting down pilot called ‘absolutely cruel’
Hamilton city council joins critics of Ford government’s decision to cancel pilot of basic income program
Hamilton city councillors are voicing their first official denunciation of the province’s decision to cancel Ontario’s basic income pilot in the form of a letter to Premier Doug Ford.
“I’m disgusted and I’m ashamed that they’re our government right now,” Coun. Matthew Green said after he and his colleagues heard from recipients of the program Wednesday.
Councillors at the healthy and safe communities committee gave unanimous support to having Mayor Fred Eisenberger write Ford, MPPs and MPs about the new Tory government’s cancellation of the pilot.
Last year, the previous Liberal government launched what was intended to be a three-year program for 4,000 people in Ontario. It has paid a guaranteed income of up to $17,000 a year for individuals and $24,000 for couples, less 50 per cent for income earned. Hamilton has served as a location for the pilot with 1,000 local recipients. Lindsay and Thunder Bay are the other sites.
Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod has said the province is scrapping the pilot, along with scaling back to 1.5 per cent a planned increase of 3 per cent to ODSP and OW, “in order to focus resources on more proven approaches.” MacLeod has characterized the pilot as a “disincentive” for people to find jobs.
A ministry spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
MacLeod has also said the province will wind down the pilot with a “lengthy and compassionate runway.” Nevertheless, the announcement two weeks ago was a bombshell for many who’d signed up for the pilot. Some had committed to renting better homes while others had embarked on post-secondary studies or stopped receiving disability payments.
Seated in a wheelchair, Michael Hampson told councillors how a cancer diagnosis 18 years ago made him reliant on ODSP. Basic income changed his life, allowing him to participate in society and feel better about himself. That includes not having to shop at second-hand thrift stores, he said.
“I can buy clothes, like these from Gilbert’s Big and Tall, and I’m not tall,” Hampson quipped.
The 56-year-old urged city politicians to push the province to back off plans to end the program. “I ask you to stand up, roll with us. Help us change our lives.”
Jonathan Dalton said he’s been able to focus on rebuilding his life after his business tanked. Cancellation of the program is to the city’s detriment, he said.
“What this comes down to is Hamilton is getting hosed here.”
During the recent provincial election, a campaign spokesperson said the Progressive Conservatives looked “forward to seeing the results of the pilot project.” The decision to cancel it has let the recipients down, Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, told the committee.
“We had faith that this pilot would help enhance the lives, the dignity, the food security the housing security of many in our community.”
Lost is the chance to study how basic income may have benefitted those in the Ontario pilot, added Sheila Regehr, chair of Basic Income Canada Network.
“The eyes of the world have been on Hamilton over this project.”
Backers of the Ontario pilot, however, say they plan to keep documenting the participants’ stories through a newly launched website called Basic Income Voices (bivoices.hamiltonpoverty.ca)
Despite only having baseline data in Ontario, there’s ample evidence from previous pilots, including in Manitoba, Finland and India, that it lifts people out of poverty, helps them enter the workforce, improves health and reduces domestic violence, Regehr said.
She and Cooper are one of five signatories of an Aug. 15 letter to MacLeod that asks her to meet with basic income recipients and accept their expertise.
“You expressed a desire to bring everyone together. We agree that this is important, and we are willing to help in this effort,” it reads.
A “legal option” is under consideration, Cooper said.
“We believe the government has broken faith with its participants.”
Coun. Sam Merulla, who introduced Wednesday’s motion, urged those at the meeting to focus their advocacy on the province, which holds the purse strings for social service programs. “That’s where the war should be declared.”
Coun. Jason Farr, who seconded the motion, said the city will do what it can “to right the ship.”
That motion must be ratified at council Friday.
Cooper told The Spectator he’s pleased to receive a strong show of support from councillors.
However, he said the best bet at this stage would be for the federal government to take over the pilot.
In the meantime, participants are waiting in limbo only knowing they’ll receive a cheque in August but not knowing when the program will end, Cooper said.
This is causing considerable distress for those with mental illnesses, he said.
“It’s absolutely cruel.”
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The eyes of the world have been on Hamilton over this project. SHEILA REGEHR
Chair of Basic Income Canada Network