Watching and waiting

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says government focus is on other measures to help Canadians, not on guaranteed income

The federal government is watching guaranteed income projects in Canada but is focused on other ways of helping Canadians, says Finance Minister Bill Morneau. During Morneau’s visit to P.E.I. on Wednesday, The Guardian asked if there is any money or commitment of funding coming from the federal government for a guaranteed income program in P.E.I. Morneau replied that the government’s continuing goal is to have a significant impact on middle class Canadians and have a positive change in their ability to be successful.

“Helping people strive to be successful,” he said. Advocates of a guaranteed income in P.E.I. have been pushing for the province to institute a pilot program with the goal of helping people escape poverty.

Last fall, MLAs voted unanimously to support a resolution calling on the provincial government to seek a partnership with the federal government on a universal basic income pilot program.

The federal government has said it would only provide data to support P.E.I. in the development of a pilot.

In Ontario, its provincial government is working on its own guaranteed income pilot for some residents of Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay. On Wednesday, Morneau said the federal government will watch the experiments going on around the country.

“That will inform us as to the potential for that kind of opportunity,” he said.

If P.E.I. decides to try a guaranteed income project, the federal government will watch it too, Morneau said.

“We’re not going to commit to what we might do from an experiment until we actually understand better what that has actually (been) done so we will always remain open but at this stage focused on activities we can take to have a really immediate impact.”

While in P.E.I., Morneau visited Crasdale Farms in South Rustico Wednesday morning for a tour of its dairy barn.

After the tour, Morneau spoke with the media about his travels across the country this summer. “My broader tour across the country really is to try and understand how’s our economy doing in different regions,” he said. After touring the farm, Morneau was scheduled to take a boat tour of the Stanley Bridge harbour.

Morneau said in places like P.E.I. the economy is doing well.

“Challenges remain. We’ve got to keep working, but we’re seeing positive signs.”