Basic income would ensure balance in our society

As our economy changes through globalization, and massive increases in automation, an ample basic income (BI) will ensure that no one is left behind.

A new study by the organization UBIworks shows once again that basic incomes are good for the economy and for our society.

By examining the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), a basic income which is offered to Canadian families, research has found that for every dollar the federal government spends almost $2 in economic activity is generated. Costing an annual amount of $24 billion in 201718, the report found that CCB produced over $46 billion in economic activity, which worked out to approximately $139 billion in three years.

The report also found that in CCB supports nearly half a million jobs annually and lifts 588,000 children out of poverty.

Furthermore, the study found that families spent the money, and for every dollar Ottawa distributed 55 cents was returned to governments through taxes.

In Peterborough, it is readily apparent how NAFTA, and globalization has decimated our industrial and manufacturing sectors. We no longer have secure, permanent, unionized jobs, with benefits and pensions.

These radical changes in the job market are only going to increase in the future.

Appallingly, even with access to the CCB, one in two femaleled sole-support parent households in Peterborough report experiencing food insecurity according to a report from Peterborough Public Health in 2018.

What we need is a basic income to ensure more balance in our society. As stated by Floyd Marinescu of UBIworks in an interview with the Toronto Star, “We believe that basic income is a key pillar in a more human-centred capitalism which I think is going to be needed for us to prosper in the next 50 years with increased automation, globalization and precarious employment.” Melissa Addison-Webster, Peterborough