{"id":72316,"date":"2016-03-14T00:32:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T04:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=72316"},"modified":"2016-03-14T00:32:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T04:32:33","slug":"five-things-watch-canadian-business-world-coming-week-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/03\/14\/five-things-watch-canadian-business-world-coming-week-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario will test idea of a guaranteed minimum income to ease poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Charles<\/a>
Charles Sousa, Ontario’s finance minister, said the province has not decided which community will be the test site for a basic income guarantee.
(Photo: Charles Sousa | Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014A single paragraph buried in the Ontario budget could mean big changes in the lives of some of the province’s most impoverished residents by giving them a guaranteed minimum income.<\/p>\n

Last month’s provincial budget promised a pilot project to test \u201cthat a basic income could build on the success of minimum wage policies and increases in child benefits by providing more consistent and predictable support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concept is on the radar of the federal Liberals, too\u2014a Liberal-dominated parliamentary committee called on the Trudeau government to explore the concept of guaranteeing people a minimum income in a pre-budget report tabled Friday.<\/p>\n

Charles Sousa, Ontario’s finance minister, said the province has not decided which community will be the test site for a basic income guarantee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something that many people seem to have an interest in us testing out, so we’re looking at something in the fall,\u201d he said. \u201cOther jurisdictions are using it, and I want to see if it makes sense for us, so it’s important for us to pilot, to test it out, and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proponents say a guaranteed minimum income, which would see families living below the poverty line topped up to a set level, would be more efficient and less costly than administering the existing series of social programs that help low-income residents.<\/p>\n

They also say poverty is one of the biggest determinants of health, and a guaranteed minimum income could mean reduced health-care costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoverty costs us all. It expands health-care costs, policing burdens and depresses the economy,\u201d Sen. Art Eggleton said last month as he called for a national pilot project of a basic income guarantee.<\/p>\n

About nine per cent of Canadians live in poverty, but the numbers are much higher for single mothers and indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

If Ontario’s basic income pilot project is designed correctly, it could help eliminate some of the \u201cperverse incentives\u201d that institutionalize poverty, said Danielle Martin, vice president of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to design programs that will give people who need it income security, but will not discourage them from entering the workforce,\u201d said Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it’s entirely possible, if we design this pilot right, that we can actually have a major impact on the health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable people in the province, and that can save tremendous amounts of money in the health-care system down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada experimented with a guaranteed minimum income in Dauphin, Manitoba in the early 1970s. The so-called Mincome project found it did not discourage people from working, except for two key groups: new mothers, and teenaged boys who opted to stay in school until graduation.<\/p>\n

The Mincome project also found an 8.5 per cent reduction in hospital visits in Dauphin during the experiment, said Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople had fewer visits because of mental health problems,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were fewer low birth-weight babies, so very concrete and immediate impacts in terms of people’s health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Income Security Advocacy Centre said care must be taken to ensure no one is worse off as a result of the Ontario pilot for a basic income guarantee.<\/p>\n

People on social assistance in Ontario also get their prescription drugs and dental bills paid for, as well as help with child care, and they should not lose those benefits with a basic income guarantee, added Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s called the welfare wall, a phenomenon where people, even if they could find part-time work or lower paying work\u2014they’re actually better off in some ways by staying on social assistance because of those other benefits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some people, that makes it basically impossible to get off of welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

People should not be concerned that a guaranteed minimum income would mean those on social assistance are suddenly living on easy street, said Eggleton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wouldn’t be the good life,\u201d he told the Senate. \u201cIt would provide a floor, a foundation that low-income people can then build upon for a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social programs should lift people out of poverty, not keep them there, and a basic income is a new approach that could work, added Eggleton.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow we have dealt with poverty has failed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to test a different approach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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