Toronto Star Editorial
For decades, the notion of a guaranteed annual income has been raised in Canadian social policy debates.
A basic floor income for all Canadian adults was first advanced in Canada 35 years ago by Senator David Croll, a progressive Liberal. It was touted again in the 1985 report of a royal commission headed by Donald Macdonald, another Liberal. More recently, the Green party has embraced the concept.
It is refreshing, then, to see a Conservative, Senator Hugh Segal, urging the study of a guaranteed income as a replacement for the myriad social and anti-poverty programs in Canada. Federal Conservatives seldom talk about poverty or what should be done to help the 1.3 million Canadians who fall below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off line. The subject got one brief sentence in last fall's throne speech; Senate reform got a whole paragraph. But Segal, to his credit, wants to put poverty on the national agenda as well as in the campaign platforms of all federal parties in the next election. Continue reading on the Gaianicity webpage, then return and post a comment.
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