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Lessons from Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot

Thursday, October 17th, 2019

Michael Mendelson looks at Ontario’s experience to offer lessons on how to – and how not to – set up future Basic Income trials. The report focuses in particular on three aspects of the pilot in which the experimental design fell short: lack of a “saturation” site, problems of enrollment, and use of the income tax system to test recipients’ income… The author also suggests a five-step process for governments considering another Basic Income experiment…

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Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »

Old Age Insecurity?

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Feb.27, 2012
Low-income seniors will be hardest hit by increasing the age of entitlement for Old Age Security, since they rely on that program for most of their income and they have a lower lifespan than middle- and upper-income Canadians. If the federal government goes ahead with that ill-considered change, then at least it should provide an income benefit to poor seniors aged 65 and 66 so that they do not have to keep working or remain on welfare for two more years.

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Fixing the Hole in E. I.

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Dec, 6, 2011
Many unemployed Canadians are ineligible for Employment Insurance, so that welfare becomes their only alternative… applicants must exhaust their financial assets, and the paternalistic requirements of welfare are stigmatizing. As a consequence, it is difficult to bounce back from welfare into the economic mainstream… Something is needed between Employment Insurance, with its relatively higher benefits but limited reach, and welfare, to which anyone in need can apply but only for inadequate benefits.

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Prisons or poverty? The choice is clear

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Mar. 15, 2011
Since 2006, the Harper Government has drained its own coffers. After taking office, it cut the GST by two percentage points, creating an annual revenue loss of $12-billion. It trimmed corporate taxes, from 18 to 16.5%, effective 2011… Yet the government somehow manages to find money for its favourite expenditures: War and crime… The Harper Government should use the 2011-12 budget to tackle Canada’s real challenges related to poverty and inequality, literacy and educational attainment. Any new federal spending should invest in people, not prisons.

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A Basic Income Plan for Canadians with Severe Disabilities

Monday, November 8th, 2010

November 8, 2010
… a proposed new federal Basic Income program that would replace provincial/territorial social assistance for most working age persons with severe disabilities. The Basic Income program would be a close model of the long-established and well-regarded Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors. The second reform is to convert the existing non-refundable Disability Tax Credit into a refundable Disability Tax Credit that would extend compensation for the extra costs of disability to the lowest-income people with disabilities.

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Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »

Stand up for good government, MPs

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Aug. 11, 2010
This is an occasion for MPs to stand up and be counted. We call for the three opposition leaders to agree on the text of a resolution in defence of census integrity and preservation of the mandatory long form, and to state publicly their intent to move it upon reopening of the House of Commons. In the spirit of democracy and non-partisanship, the vote should be open, unconstrained by party whips. Parliamentary endorsement of the integrity of the census would be a powerful affirmation of a core Canadian value.

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