Quebec gets basic income, Ontario not so much

On Jan. 29, the Toronto Star reported on Quebec’s basic income program. Some readers may not know the poignant local side of this story.

As recently as 2018, it appeared that a successful Basic Income pilot project in Hamilton, Brantford, Thunder Bay and Lindsay might nudge provincial and federal co-operation toward making the plan permanent. That was before Doug Ford became premier. Ontario then turned its back on the supporters and pulled the plug on the project. Participants whose lives had been lifted to a place of dignity went back to using food banks.

In Hamilton, the disappointed participants did not read the story. Why not? Because being on social assistance means you cannot pay for newspapers or trips to the library to read free newspapers or phone data plans to read the news online. You can’t afford to nurse a coffee in a place where Wi-Fi is free and you can’t afford a phone anyway.

This means you also can’t look for jobs online, create resumes, gather reference letters or enrol in training programs that you can’t pay for or get to. You can’t afford to mail job applications or deliver them in person, and if you use free email, you cannot always access the replies.

But let’s say a miracle happens and you get a job interview. You can’t afford to get a haircut and lack bus fare to get to Value Village to get a new shirt and jacket for the interview.

Premier Ford agrees with the Labour Minister in Quebec, who stated that the best remedy for poverty is a job. Yes, minister. But, basic income doesn’t make people lazy. It gives back dignity and enables more productive lives. That’s what was happening in the pilot.

Snuffing out the program in 2019 was meant to prevent any reporting of good (or bad) outcomes, but researchers at McMaster took on the task of assessing outcomes. That report can be accessed on McMaster’s website and on Twitter. Even while Ford and company are marching in the opposite direction, supporters of Basic Income across Canada are pushing the idea ahead, waving the McMaster evaluation over their heads.

Hamilton’s council (2018) denounced the cancellation of the program. Hamilton’s board of health passed motions (2015 and 2020) urging the federal and provincial governments to institute a basic income program. Municipal councils in Kingston, Ont., (2015), Fredericton, N.B. (2022), Moncton, N.B. (2022), St. John’s, N.L. (2022) and Saint John, N.B. (2023) have asked their leaders to petition provincial and federal governments to get moving on implementing basic income. The City of Victoria in 2015, and the Council of British Columbia municipalities in 2022 took the same action.

There are many economic reasons why it makes sense to lift people out of the grinding, demeaning existence that results from our current social assistance rates. Low-income people spend every cent locally, mostly on rent. When it’s gone, they walk to food banks or soup kitchens. Many have children, who live in horrible conditions through no fault of their own. Some attract more than their share of emergency services. Many experience health and mental-health crises at a far higher rate than the general population.

Yes, yes, premier, a job. Of course a job. But how about some dignity? And realistic rent money? But, mostly, dignity first, last and always?