Report shows how basic income could help in COVID-19 recovery

Virus has ‘put spotlight on weaknesses in our system,’ advocate group says

An engineering student choosing between getting urgent dental work done or continuing their studies. A daughter staying home part time in order to take care of her mother who has Alzheimer’s. A farmer-turned oil worker digging into retirement savings due to industry changes.

There are more than a hundred testimonies like these contained in a report released Monday by the non-profit Basic Income Network Canada.

The report features 141 anonymized stories collected from people across Canada in April and highlights the myriad of different situations where a basic income would allow someone to get a job, retain their dignity or, in some cases, save their life.

And right now, while Canada ponders a recovery from COVID-19, is the best time to implement a basic-income program, said Sheila Regehr, founding member and chairperson of Basic Income Network Canada. “COVID hasn’t created anything new. It has put a spotlight on all of the weaknesses in our system,” said Regehr.

“All of those inequalities that have been growing over the years and have been causing all kinds of problems for a certain group of people. Now, COVID shows that so many other people are also vulnerable.”

For decades, economists have floated the idea of basic income, a policy centred on the premise that everyone deserves to have their basic needs met regardless of their income.

In 2017, Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal Ontario government launched a $150-million basicinome experiment in three cities. The Ford government cancelled it in July 2018, but multiple studies afterwards found the pilot project had positive benefits for participants. One study by McMaste r University found three-quarters of people who were already employed kept working even after receiving monthly basic income, dispelling concerns that basic income discourages people from working.

And recently, in the United States, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang championed something called universal basic income — where everyone would receive a cheque for the same amount in their pocket regardless of how rich or poor they are.

Support for basic income is growing, said Regehr.

She believes Canada should adapt a progressive version of basic income, similar to how the country’s Old Age Security and child benefit programs are calculated. Essentially, your basic income cheque increases and decreases depending on how much other income you make.

In the Basic Income Network Canada’s model, those who make over $55,000 (or more than $77,782 as a couple) will not receive basic income aid. On the other end of the spectrum, those who make very little income would receive as much as $1,833 per month per person or $2,593 for couples.

Regehr said her organization has submitted policy briefs detailing exactly how the country can pay for basic income — either through existing tax programs, or with a new wealth tax, or by increasing sales tax slightly — to both the House of Commons and the Senate.

The federal government has given $2,000 per month to people who lost their jobs due to COVID-19, through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, also known as CERB. Regehr and others have applauded the government for acting quickly during the crisis.

“All of those people who were managing or were one or two paycheques away from disaster, getting that CERB benefit was huge for them,” she said.

In particular, the cash in people’s pockets — with no strings attached — meant they could use the money in whatever way made sense for them. “It gives people both the security and the flexibility to manoeuvre through transitions,” said Regehr.

According to the stories Basic Income Network Canada collected, people used the money for everything from child care to groceries to rent. Many feared what would happen to them after the government halts CERB as some businesses, schools and families gradually recover from the pandemic.

Many who wrote in were living on the precipice of poverty before COVID-19 hit, said Regehr. That’s why Canada should not settle for going back to the “old normal,” either, she said.

Through the stories collected by Basic Income Network Canada, Canadians’ living in precarious situations do a better job showing why basic income makes sense — better than any policy adviser could, said Regehr.

People have used the CERB money for everything from child care to groceries to rent