Greens target poverty with basic income pitch

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This article was published 16/08/2019 (2213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A provincial Green government would implement a basic income for all Manitobans, if elected Sept. 10.

Green Leader James Beddome said it would cost $1.58 billion per year to pull every Manitoban out of poverty.

”We wanted to show what Manitoba could do alone,” he said at a news conference Friday, flanked by federal Green Leader Elizabeth May.

”This is very doable and well within our means.”

The Green plan would begin with $7,200 for a single adult. For a family, the basic income payment would be reduced to zero for a single adult making $53,333 in annual income and $75,407 for a two-adult family. The party says it’s proposal would provide an extra $6,120 per year to a post-secondary student earning $8,000, and a full-time minimum-wage earner with an additional $4,000 per year.

May said if her party is elected in the coming federal election, she would look at expanding what the Manitoba branch wants to do by putting in place a guaranteed livable income across the country.

”We can afford to eliminate poverty in Canada — I make the case we can’t afford not to,” she said.

May said she would bring together what she calls a Council of Canadian governments — including not just the federal government and provinces, but also representatives from both large and small cities and municipalities, as well as Indigenous leadership.

“This is the single biggest improvement on our safety net since the minority government of Lester B. Pearson brought in our health-care system, Canada Pension Plan, and Unemployment Insurance.”

And, of the provincial poverty plan, May said: “I really support what the Green Party of Manitoba is proposing.”

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Beddome said a pilot project for guaranteed income was put in place as a pilot project in Dauphin by the federal and provincial governments in the 1970s. He said the results recorded an 8.5 per cent reduction in emergency room visits alone.

“What is an 8.5 per cent decrease in a $6.6-billion health-care budget: $561 million,” Beddome said.

“That alone is one-third of the $1.58-billion tax shift basic income proposal we’re putting forward. It would nearly cut poverty rates in half in this province… It means taking 35,000 adults out of poverty, 23,000 children out of poverty, and, for those who still remain below the poverty line, a 21 per cent increase in their income.

“Ending poverty is a priority with the Greens. It’s a social justice issue which must be resolved.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.