The Ontario Basic Income Pilot was a study launched in April 2017 to test whether a basic income can better support vulnerable workers in Ontario. Its goal was to give 4000 participants a minimum level income and measure outcomes in terms of food security, mental health, and employment. This summer, with the change of government in Ontario, the decision has been made to end the study early.
In a 2018 Canada Without Poverty conducted a study which found that nearly five million Canadians live in poverty. That’s one out of seven. The results also indicated that one out of five children live in poverty, and four million Canadians experience food insecurity on a regular basis. The 2018 poverty line for an individual in Ontario is $19, 930. This means that one out of every seven of the people you pass by each day are living on less than $19, 930 per year.
In other countries with similar GDPs to Canada, a basic income has been tested and has proved an effective way to battle poverty. This basic income pilot study was aimed at gathering research and data to find if such a program could help the growth of Ontario’s economy.
What this program was not, was a free-for-all money grab. It was a controlled study with a three-year time limit. Individual participants were given just over $16,000 a year. Critics of basic income programs worry that participants will be demotivated to seek employment and will continue to live year-after-year on government funds. This is not the case. Participants were encouraged to find employment, and nearly 70% of participants had some source of income aside from the money they were given. For those employed, the guaranteed income was cut in half by their earned income.
Unofficial results found many participants happy with the program and excited to use these three years of supplemented income to go back to school or get a step ahead – options they could never have had with only their poverty-line incomes. Others were concerned about the eligibility of their new income to debt collectors. Since this was not given the same consideration as other government income supplements and was only funded by government, this income was left vulnerable to those experiencing severe debt.
Unfortunately, the study did not yield any conclusive results as it did not complete its three-year course. While this specific study certainly had its drawbacks, another must be attempted if we are to fight poverty in Ontario and in Canada.
This opinion could be argued from multiple points of view. Financially this is a waste of the money that has already gone into it. From the point of view of those conducting the study, it is a waste of all the time and resources put into it so far. It makes no sense not to finish it, regardless of what the government may choose to do with the data.
But most of all, this study was of human beings. Ending this study early affects the lives of each individual involved. These are not just numbers on a screen of data. These are not just dollars in a big government bank account. These are vulnerable individuals. These are people that could possibly become non-vulnerable, should the data have proved significant. This study was necessary to the strength and growth of Ontario.
