By Scott Roblin

Controversial basic income program draws reaction locally

Apr 25, 2017 | 5:27 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A pilot project in Ontario has generated quite the buzz locally regarding basic income programs.

Low-income residents in Hamilton, Lindsay, and Thunder Bay, Ontario will begin to receive support through monthly cheques over a three-year span.

Average payments will be $1,400/month or just under $17,000 per year, less 50% of any income they earn.

This has spurred a conversation in Medicine Hat if a similar program would be viable in the community.

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Councillor and national basic income board member Celina Symmonds said implementing the program in south Alberta would mean a drastic change to social programming.

“I think that they have to be really careful how they do it, and ensure that it’s done properly,” said Symmonds. “I think if they’re going to do it, they need to look at eliminating the programs that are in existence and putting in a new income that makes sense.”

This Ontario initiative is similar to a program ran in Dauphin, Manitoba back in the 1970s, which saw growth in employment numbers.

Symmonds added the province’s current social welfare programs can be confusing at times.

“I think that the current system that we have with now with income support, AISH and all the different streams of income, it’s very hard to understand what it would look like to work,” she said. “Would I have less income? How do I get child care? All these kinds of questions that are in people’s minds. I think with a basic minimum income, you would actually see people encouraged to work.”

Two main criticisms of a minimum income program are the overall cost of the program to taxpayers, and the notion that this program will discourage those on welfare from obtaining work.

The total cost for a national poverty basic income program has been estimated at $30 billion.

One of those Medicine Hat residents that would be affected by a local version of the project is Noel Crouch-Evans.

Since last January, she has been accessing the province’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, or AISH program, as she fights with type-two bipolar disorder.

Crouch-Evans said this type of program would make all the difference.

“I would be able to live,” said Crouch-Evans. “I would have my bills paid and still have a little bit of extra money at the end of the month.”

Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner said this issue needs more discussion before a decision is made on its future in Alberta.