A discussion paper produced by former senator Hugh Segal, special adviser to the Government on its basic income pilot project has recommended that people between the ages of 18 to 65, who are living under the poverty line in Ontario, will earn a basic income of at least $1320 per month. with people with disabilities receiving $500 more. The scheme would replace all other welfare programs to create a basic floor that no one would fall below.
The basic income pilot project will be tested in three sites, one in southern Ontario, one in northern Ontario, and one in an indigenous community. The report proposes payment of basic income for three years at minimum, and that participation be voluntary; participants could leave at any time.
Hugh Segal, special adviser to the Government on its basic income pilot project said:
Hopefully, this pilot project will allow us to free up low-income people’s time so that they can make choices about their lives, be better parents, to get on with their lives and look for work and do better than they’re doing now. Participation would be voluntary and no one would be financially worse off as a result of the pilot.
This is not the first experiment with a guaranteed minimum income in Canada. A similar project, known as a “mincome”,” was tested in Dauphin, Man. from 1974 to 1979 where 1,000 families who fell below the poverty line were paid $3,486 a month.
Countries such as Finland, the Netherlands and Kenya are in the process of developing their own pilot projects to test the idea of basic income to its Citizens.
