Webinar: Basic Income - Giving Canadians a Solid Floor to Stand on

 

 

As Canadians prepare for a federal election this fall, we are calling on all political parties to commit to taking real action against poverty and to seriously explore basic income as part of the solution. With 12.6% Canadians living below the Low Income Measure (as of 2011) and the costs of poverty in this country totaling approximately $86 billion annually (OAFB, 2009), we are facing a critical national issue that requires a national solution. Guaranteeing a basic income for all would both greatly reduce the number of Canadians experiencing food insecurity and, importantly, offer a more dignified social safety net that ensures no one falls below a certain income level. 

 

In this one hour webinar, we’ll be joined be two esteemed panelists who are leading the charge for basic income. Hugh Segal has been advocating for basic income through his many political posts (including as Conservative senator between 2005 and 2014), as an author, and as an academic. Dr. Andrew Pinto hails from the Centre for Inner City Health at St. Michael’s Hospital and is researching the effects of boosting incomes of low-income and otherwise marginalized patients. CFCC’s Chief Operating Officer, Kathryn Scharf, will moderate the conversation, and Food Secure Canada’s Director, Diana Bronson, will speak about how people across Canada can join Eat Think Vote — a national campaign for food security.

 

 

Available as an income top-up to any citizen who falls below a designated poverty line, a guaranteed basic income is a more streamlined, dignified, and empowering way to support those living on low incomes that would take the place of the complex social assistance systems currently in place. It is an upstream answer to the many downstream problems resulting from poverty. Learn more about why we support a basic income policy by reading this document outlining the rationale and proposed implementation of basic income.