Basic Income For Canadians

Before the COVID‐19 pandemic, the idea of providing a basic income to everyone in Canada who needs it was already gaining broad support. Then, in response to a crisis that threatened to put millions out of work, the federal government implemented new measures which constituted Canada's largest ever experiment with a basic income for almost everyone. In this new and revised edition, Evelyn L. Forget offers a clear‐eyed look at how these emergency measures could be transformed into a program that ensures an adequate basic income for every Canadian. Forget details what we can learn from earlier basic income experiments in Canada and internationally. She weighs the options, investigates whether Canadians can afford a permanent basic income program and describes how it could best be implemented across the country. This accessible book offers everything a reader needs to decide if a basic income program is the right follow-up to the short-term government response to COVID‐19.

Inequality is up. Decent work is down. Free market fundamentalism has been exposed as a tragic failure. In a job market upended by COVID-19—with Canadians caught in the grip of precarious labour, stagnant wages, a climate crisis, and the steady creep of automation—an ever-louder chorus of voices calls for a liveable and obligation-free basic income. Could a basic income guarantee be the way forward to democratize security and intervene where the market economy and social programs fail? Jamie Swift and Elaine Power scrutinize the politics and the potential behind a radical proposal in a post-pandemic world: that wealth should be built by a society, not individuals. And that we all have an unconditional right to a fair share. In these pages, Swift and Power bring to the forefront the deeply personal stories of Canadians who participated in the 2017–2019 Ontario Basic Income Pilot; examine the essential literature and history behind the movement; and answer basic income’s critics from both the right and left.

Award-winning journalist Roderick Benns spent nearly two years with one key purpose - using advocacy journalism to get leaders across Canada talking about the potential of a basic income guarantee. From Federal Ministers, Senators, and Members of Parliament, to political party leaders, and mayors across Canada, Benns used his progressive news site, Leaders and Legacies, to relentlessly interview as many leaders as possible to help agitate for basic income policy in Canada. Here, in one collection, is every story and Q & A that he personally wrote or conducted on basic income -- more than 70,000 words of ideas, analysis, and reportage on one of the most important social policy questions of our time - how should governments respond in a world of uncertain work and rising inequality?

This book brings together scholars from the fields of politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and economics, to explore pathways towards implementing a Basic Income in Australia. It is the first book of its kind to outline avenues for implementation of a basic income specifically for Australia and responds to a gap in the existing basic income literature and published titles to provide a distinct standpoint in the exploration of basic income within the Australian contemporary policy landscape. The first section of the book outlines some of the continuing substantive and philosophical issues regarding BI implementation. In the second section of the book, authors offer practical strategies and models for progressing BI in Australia.

As governments struggle to adapt half-century-old income and social support programs to new needs and realities, some are calling for the introduction of a basic income guarantee for working-age Canadians. But is a basic income really the best policy response to poverty, precarious work, and unemployment? Is it the best way to build a just and inclusive society? Basic Income and a Just Society provides a comprehensive evaluation of basic income and its application as a primary social policy tool. Drawing on extensive research and analysis produced for the British Columbia Expert Panel on Basic Income, combined with pan-Canadian data and current evidence, leading scholars examine the various claims made for and against a basic income. They assess its potential to reduce poverty and improve social outcomes, as well as the costs associated with implementing such a program in Canada and how it would interact with existing social programs. In examining the key arguments advanced by proponents of a basic income, contributors take a hard look at Canada’s social safety net and its strengths and weaknesses, proposing a different path forward – one that entails a full paradigm shift in social policy and rests on providing the bases of self- and social respect to all Canadians.

Basic economic security is an idea whose time has come. In this wide-ranging book, the authors make a compelling case for the introduction of a "universal citizen's income." Canadian workers face continuing turbulence and fundamental shifts in the workplace. Globalization and technological change are pressing in on all of us. The authors trace in detail both the pros and cons of a basic income policy--how it might be funded and delivered, how it might increase jobs or change lifestyles and the work ethic. Extensive examples from Europe and the United States help to clarify the Canadian situation.

As Canada's social safety net continues to be eroded and the gap between rich and poor in our society continues to grow, it becomes increasingly urgent to confront the problems of poverty in fresh and creative ways. Political scientist François Blais offers a bold new proposal to assist the poorest and most disadvantaged in our society: a guaranteed basic income, or allowance, to be paid to every Canadian citizen. Elaborating on ideas endorsed by two Nobel laureates, Blais outlines how a program might be implemented that would replace the present profusion of social assistance programs with a single, universal benefit. Stimulating and original, Ending Poverty offers an important contribution to the ongoing debate over social justice in this country. Originally published in French as Un revenu garanti pour tous. Translated by Jennifer Hutchison.