Basic income in Canada

Basic income in Canada has been debated since at least the 1930s with the Social Credit movement, but as in other parts of the western world the discussion has increased during the last decades. Different names have been used, for example "Guaranteed Annual Income", "Social Dividend" and "basic income".

1920-1980

William Aberhart

William Aberhart, Premier of Alberta, was inspired by Major C. H. Douglas Social Credit theory and tried to implement a basic income for Albertans during the 1930s. However he was thwarted in his attempts by the Federal Government of the time.[1]

Guaranteed Annual Income in Canada, refers to various proposals discussed in Canada since the 1970s, to implement guaranteed minimum income or basic income; also called NIT (for negative income tax) and UD (for Universal Demogrant) respectively.

Between 1974 and 1979, the Mincome experiment was undertaken in Dauphin, Manitoba in order to assess the impact of a basic income on work incentives.

Current efforts

As of 2014, the Liberal Party of Canada,[2] the Green Party of Canada,[3] the Pirate Party of Canada,[4] provincial party Québec Solidaire[5] and former conservative senator Hugh Segal[6] advocate for basic income in Canada. Mike Redmond, leader of the New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island, supports a basic income pilot project in Prince Edward Island.[7]

In November 2013, a poll commissioned by the Trudeau Foundation found that 46% of Canadians favoured and 42% opposed replacing current economic assistance with a guaranteed national income.[8]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new trial in March 2016.[9]

Books and articles

Articles

See also

References

  1. Mulvale, James P. (2008) Basic Income and the Canadian Welfare State: Exploring the Realms of Possibility. Basic Income Studies, 3(1)
  2. "Creating a Basic Annual Income to be Designed and Implemented for a Fair Economy". Liberal Party of Canada. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. "Guaranteed Livable Allowance". The Canadian Progressive.
  4. "Establish Citizen’s Income (“Mincome”)"
  5. (French) "Québec solidaire présente des propositions audacieuses pour combattre les inégalités," Québec solidaire (14 aout 2012).
  6. Senator Hugh Segal on basic income, Basic Income News
  7. "NDP support guaranteed income pilot project". CBC News. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  8. "A National Survey of Canadians" (PDF). Environics Institute for Survey Research. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  9. Hazan, Jeremy. "Justin Trudeau Plans To Experiment Giving Canadians Unconditional Free Money". MTL Blog. Retrieved 9 March 2016.

External links

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