Dolores Campbell Asks About GAI

Dolores Campbell, the Spectator‘s commentator on social justice issues, asked this question of federal candidates in Cape Breton-Canso and Sydney Victoria:

Would your party or, in the case of the independents, you consider establishing a Guaranteed Annual Income for all Canadians that would provide them with at least the basics of life?

Here are their answers (by riding, in the order in which they were received):

 

Sydney-Victoria

 

Lois Foster, Green Party of Canada

Yes a Guaranteed Living Income has been costed in our platform. Unlike existing income support programs, additional income would not be clawed back. Those earning above a certain total income would pay the GLI back in taxes.

 

 

 

 

Kenzie MacNeil, Independent

I have long supported a Guaranteed Annual Income – since the early ’70s. I believe that a Guaranteed Annual Income could be developed efficiently, removing the punitive qualities of current social programs and liberating a significant amount of new productivity.

 

 

 

Jodi McDavid, New Democratic Party

A guaranteed annual income is not part of the current NDP platform. Instead, we have proposed pharmacare, dental care, universal childcare, boosting the Guaranteed Income Supplement, $15 minimum wage and making the Caregiver Tax Credit reimbursable as well as other benefits.

One thing I think we need to consider with a guaranteed annual income, is that pilots of programs like this still do not provide a lot of money. In 2017, Ontario did one that allowed single people $16,800 per year. I am certainly aware of benefits — such as a lack of red tape — that could be beneficial to government and individuals in a guaranteed income program. As an individual, I am willing to explore basic income further, but just for clarity, it isn’t in our current platform.

 

 

Cape Breton-Canso

Michelle Dockrill, Independent

I believe that establishing a Guaranteed Annual Income for all Canadians is something that we as a country have to be committed to. In fact in the early ’70s there was a pilot project done in Manitoba regarding a guaranteed income that clearly showed the positive impact of such a program. The idea of a Guaranteed Annual Income was looked at and recommended by a Special Senate Committee in the early seventies and there was a program begun in Ontario that unfortunately was eliminated by the Doug Ford government. Although there are a number of initiatives that would assist Canadian families that find themselves struggling to survive; the introduction of a Guaranteed Annual Income would certainly ensure Canadian families would not be subjected to subjective programs that, to date. leave a large portion of our population behind. I believe that it is time that all elected individuals have to show real action if we are really committed to changing the lives of Canadians presently living in poverty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dolores Campbell, a lifelong resident of Sydney, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Cape Breton Highlander, the Nova Scotian, Cape Breton Magazine, Catholic New Times and The Cape Breton Post.