Guaranteed Basic Income Bill has now been tabled in Canada – Bill C-273

The Liberal member of parliament from Davenport Toronto – Julie Dzerowicz has tabled a private members bill (C-273) that aims to “establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income.”

The bill would require the Minister of Finance to develop a national strategy to assess implementation models for a guaranteed basic income program as part of Canada’s innovation and economic growth strategy. The private members bill also details reporting requirements concerning the strategy.

Bill C-273 states immediately in its preamble that “all Canadians have the right to have their basic needs met, to participate fully in society and to live with dignity, regardless of their employment status.” The bill also states that a “guaranteed basic income program could enhance the economy’s ability to grow and improve its productivity.”

It continues:

“A guaranteed basic income program could lift many Canadians out of poverty and provide them with the stability they need to access education and employment opportunities and to reach their full potential.”

The Bill proposes that the strategy must include a pilot project in one or more provinces to test various models for the implementation of a guaranteed basic income.

The bill also seeks to collect and analyze data for assessing each model tested. It would seek to understand the effect on government including “in relation to the efficiency flexibility cost and continuity and responsiveness of the program and service delivery, as well as the potential of a guaranteed basic income program to reduce the complexity of or replace existing social programs.”

The bill would also seek to know the effect on recipients and their families including their quality of life, their physical and mental health, their use of health services, in relation to housing stability, living standards, nutrition, savings, education, social relations and labour market participation – but labour market participation won’t be a prerequisite.

My personal opinion – for what it’s worth

It seems this Liberal MP’s understanding of money is the same as Unifor’s who advocates for massive spending and thinks that there won’t be consequences. Look at what Unifor, a union representing over 300,000 Canadians says on their website under the “Myth-Busting” portion of their website:

“Now is exactly the right time for government to be spending extraordinary amounts of money.”

Unifor reasons that they can just raise the taxes in Canada to pay for this spending because taxes are low right now! Talk about laugh out loud – fall on the floor type laughing.

Here’s what they said:

“Unlike households, governments can raise money through various instruments, including by raising taxes. The ability to raise revenue is one of the reasons credit rating agencies give Canada such a high rating – our taxes are low and there is room to grow them without hurting the economy.” – Unifor union under Myth-Buster’s on their website

With the Government of Canada having spent enormous amounts of taxpayer money already on Covid measures like CERB, one has to question how we can afford all of this – especially now.

The idea of a UBI or a guaranteed basic income isn’t new. They were often shot down because of the age-old question “how will we pay for it?” Now, amid an economy that lies in shambles, a Liberal MP from Trudeau’s Government is rolling out the idea again? I will now ask the question, how will it be paid for – especially now?

Why would I go to work if I receive comparable wages for not working? What about the risks of hyperinflation? These are the questions that have been asked for ages but there is an elephant in the room as well – hasn’t this always failed everywhere it was tried?

Isn’t guaranteed income essentially a differently branded version of socialism and communist-like policies? To me, it’s just another wealth distribution scheme. It reminds me of a portion of the Governments of Canada’s “Yesterday’s Gone” report under the Capitalism in Question section where there is a sub-section titled “workers first”.

Article: “Yesterday’s Gone” report says “May be a shift to global workforces implications for tax policy” – funded by government of Canada’s Future Skills Centre

In that sub-section of the report, they advocate for a UBI saying that “formerly fringe policy ideas, such as Universal Basic Income (UBI) and a wealth tax, have been brought into mainstream politics. Fifty senators signed an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for a basic income, and the Federal Liberal Party has discussed both policies publicly as approaches to spur Canada’s economic recovery.”

They then go on to state that “wealth distribution policies could provoke high-net-worth individuals to leave the country, potentially contributing to a loss of talent.”

Flash forward to today and where the bill for UBI has now been proposed and it would appear the Government of Canada has already begun weighing the potential consequences of its implementation.

In my opinion, the Government of Canada put Canadians in a position to be more dependent on their Government through forced lockdowns that prevented Canadians from earning their full-income. Now, they have introduced a bill that would allow them to do something they were already floating around in April of 2020? This has positioned Canadians on a slippery slope – and I don’t like the direction we appear to be going.

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