Guaranteed minimum income just 'inspiration' in new Quebec government report

The idea ofaguaranteed minimum income serves as a "source of inspiration" in a long-awaited report released Mondaythat falls short of recommending the Quebec government testthe idea.

The report, prepared by a three-person committee formed by Premier Philippe Couillard last year, instead suggests a series of reforms aimed at strengtheningsocial assistance andencouragingpeople to enter the workforce.

"Today, in its purest and most comprehensive form, guaranteed minimum income is often considered a utopia. If that is the case, then for this committee, that utopia is a source of inspiration," Dorothe Boccanfuso, chair of the expert committee, said in a statement.

Proponents of guaranteed minimum income were hopeful the idea would be pilotedin Quebec after Couillard put Franois Blais, minister of employment and social solidarity, in charge.

Blais, a former academic, wrote a book espousing the conceptin 2001 calledA Basic Income for All.

• Basic income finds support on right as 'most transparent' form of redistribution

The ideaof a basic income which guaranteeseveryone has enough money to meet their basic needs, regardless of work status has gained traction in recent years, with supporters on all sides of the political spectrum.

Proponents on the left argue it represents an opportunity for greater redistribution of wealth, while those on the right see it as a chance to cut back on red tape and give more control to individuals.

Ontario, Finland trying it out

Ontario is testing out a variation of the idea,with4,000 low-income earners in three communities being given a basic annual income of $17,000.

• Ontario basic income pilot project to launch in Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay
• Finland launches basic income pilot program

Finland is also experimenting with the concept. A total of 2,000 citizens who receive unemployment benefits will get 560 euros ($782 Canadian) a month over the two-year trial.

Most Canadian advocates of such programs point to an experiment carriedout in Manitoba, dubbed "Mincome," between 1974 and 1979.

The trial was conductedin Winnipeg and in the small community of Dauphin, with Ottawa picking up three-quarters of the $17-million budget. About 1,000 families got monthly cheques under the pilot project.

Evelyn Forget, professor of community health science at the University of Manitoba, found the project improved the overall health of residents.

A 'troubling' recommendation

The Quebec report,titledGuaranteed Minimum Income inQubec: AUtopia? An Inspiration forQubec, lays out a total of 23 recommendations aimed at addressing the problems of "equity, efficiencyand incentive to work."

One of the recommendations is to establisha benchmark based on the so-called basket of goods and services, which represents the total cost of basicneedssuch as food, shelter and clothing.

In 2017, for a person living alone inMontreal,for example, the basketis calculated to be$18,012. Social assistanceis currently estimated at $9,389, or 52 per cent of the basket.

The report says social assistance should be limited to between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of the basket.Beyond that benchmark, recipients would be less inclined toenter the labor market, the report says.

Serge Petitclerc, a spokesperson for theCollectifpour unQubecsanspauvret, said the recommendation is "troubling."

The Couillardgovernment, he said, has consistently prioritized policies aimed at getting people into the workforce rather than addressingissues that drive people into poverty.

According to Petitclerc, the underlying messageis: "If they are poor, it's their fault."

In a statement, PartiQubcoiscritic HaroldLebelsaid it appears the government gave the committee a mandate that would producethe recommendations it wanted,centred around increasing participation in the labour force, and do little to lift thousands of Quebecers out of poverty.