Throughout my project, I had the opportunity to meet virtually with many individuals ranging from professors, political staffers, an individual with experience living on the street, and an Assistant Auditor General. Closer to the end of my project, I asked three individuals (a person with lived experience, professor, and political staffer) a couple of questions related to basic income. Their questions and summarized responses are included below.

 

Question: Can you share how you would like to see a basic income program implemented? 

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Political staffer (Motion-46 Campaign Organizer): 

• Must be guaranteed and livable for those who don’t have a livable income currently. 

• It should be available to everyone living in Canada including refugee claimants and Indigenous people. 

• It should be in addition to other critical social programs and available to as many people as possible.

• The amount given should be based on regional differences in the cost of living. 

• It should be in addition to increasing minimum wage, providing dental and vision coverage, Pharmacare, and other urgently needed investments in our social safety net.

• The rollout of the program should have as few barriers as possible. 

 

A person with lived experience:

• Part of basic income is implementing Pharmacare and providing individuals with dental and vision coverage as it will help improve the health of an individual and reduce stress from the cost of these services currently.

• There should also be an increase to the minimum wage. 

 

Professor:

• Not an expert in basic income but is an expert in what influences health and educational outcomes. 

• Believes that when basic income is implemented it should complement other social assistance programs. 

• Would like to see a program that has a real impact on reducing poverty. There will be health, educational benefits, and economic benefits as a result. 

 

Question: Are there any negative outcomes you could see happening when implementing a basic income?

 

Political staffer (Motion-46 Campaign Organizer): 

• If we have a basic income program implemented that replaces other critical income support programs, that would be a negative outcome.

• There are further barriers for people wanting to access it.

• It must be implemented in addition to massive investments in social housing and a livable wage for all workers (to name a few things).

 

A person with lived experience:

• There could be public outcry from people in the middle class and higher income brackets about why these people get this break from my tax dollars.

 

Professor: 

•  I’m not sure if basic income will find political support for implementation