The use of food banks has skyrocketed. Here Prime Minister Justin Trudeau helps prepare a food box at Seva Food Bank in Mississauga, Ont., on Nov. 4, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
With food insecurity at an all-time high and food banks buckling under high demand as we head into this holiday season, experts say we need to focus on long-term solutions to tackle the issue at its root.
Work conditions have largely been absent from Canada’s federal income support network — an approach that differs greatly from the United States.
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The U.S. and Canada both have different approaches when it comes to work conditions and income assistance programs.
Prime Minster Justin Trudeau helps prepare a food box at a food bank in Mississauga, Ont., in November 2022. Food charity is not the solution to ending food insecurity in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
Canada’s National Food Policy is slated for renewal later this year. Employment and Social Development Canada must be involved to develop income supports that reduce food insecurity.
A farmer at the Roots Community Food Centre urban farm in northwestern Ontario harvests Gete-Okosomin squash in summer 2021.
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A guaranteed basic income is a promising tool for contributing to sustainability and justice across agriculture and fishing sectors.
Putting money in the pockets of Canadians most in need via the grocery rebate or a guaranteed basic income has myriad benefits for people, families and the economy.
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Initiatives like the federal government’s new grocery rebate are only a small step towards ending food insecurity in Canada. A broader guaranteed basic income is long overdue.
The federal government’s grocery rebate will provide one-time monetary relief to 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families.
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The federal government should make the grocery rebate permanent by adding it to the GST/HST credit.
With careful planning, a basic income system could be designed to be simple, adaptable, reliable and fair.
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Basic income should form part of a practical comprehensive plan for eliminating poverty in Canada.
A woman is pictured at the window of her west Toronto apartment in March 2020 as her landlord issued eviction notices at the start of the pandemic. Secure and affordable housing is a big concern of those collecting social assistance, whether it was CERB or provincial programs.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
CERB was a lifeline but no paradise, highlighting the struggles of social assistance recipients to get by on much less.
More governments and aid organizations are giving poor people cash.
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Despite evidence that cash payments can help improve well-being, they have limitations as well, according to a development economist.
A man steps out of the trailer he lives in at a homeless encampment at Strathcona Park in Vancouver in December 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Adopting a universal basic income requires a fundamental restructuring of the existing social safety net in Canada, and would not necessarily conquer income inequality and poverty.
Justin Trudeau’s government initiated the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit to help people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Why not make such a program permanent?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The relative success of the CERB during the pandemic shows the time is finally right for a permanent basic annual income program.
Andrew Yang wants to give Americans $1,000 a month.
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Francis Townsend had a similar if less ambitious idea in the 1930s that never got through Congress but ended up making Social Security a lot more generous.
There’s a hue and cry about Doug Ford’s scrapping of Ontario’s basic income project. But the project was a failing experiment with a dearth of high-quality data.
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Ontario’s basic income project was deeply flawed and cursed by a lack of quality data. It needs a major overhaul.
Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s minister of children, community and social services, announces an end to the province’s basic income pilot project on July 31, 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Research shows that guaranteed basic income programs spur economies and improve mental and physical health. That’s why Ontario’s decision to scrap the province’s pilot project is such a bad idea.