43rd PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION House of Commons Debates Official Report (Hansard) Volume 150 No. 117 Monday, June 14, 2021 Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 8309 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, June 14, 2021 The House met at 11 a.m. [English] NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR A GUARANTEED BASIC INCOME ACT Prayer Ms. Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport, Lib.) moved that Bill C-273, An Act to establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic in‐ come, be read the second time and referred to a committee. PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS She said: Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely honoured to rise in the ● (1105) House today to speak to my private member's bill, Bill C-273, an [Translation] act to establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income. I give my thanks to the member for Malpeque, who seconded the bill The Speaker: The Chair would like to take a moment to provide and is a champion for a guaranteed basic income pilot in his home some information to the House regarding the management of Pri‐ province of P.E.I., and to the member for Beaches—East York, a vate Members' Business. true progressive who traded his spot so I could stand in the House today to begin second reading of Bill C-273. I feel blessed to call As members know, certain procedural realities constrain the him a colleague and friend. Speaker and members insofar as legislation is concerned. [English] Basic income is not a new idea. It is one that has been circulating in Canada for decades. This bill is being introduced after the many Following the replenishment of the order of precedence, the years of advocacy, research and work of many leaders, including Chair has developed a practice of reviewing items so that the House Professor Evelyn Forget; former minister, MP and senator, the Hon. can be alerted to bills that, at first glance, appear to impinge on the Hugh Segal; Ron Hikel, who directed the MINCOME program in financial prerogative of the Crown. This allows members the op‐ Manitoba; Sheila Regehr, chair of the Basic Income Canada Net‐ portunity to intervene in a timely fashion to present their views work; Floyd Marinescu, executive director of UBI Works; the Hon. about the need for those bills to be accompanied by a royal recom‐ Art Eggleton, former senator, MP and minister; and Senator Kim mendation. Pate, among many other current senators. I stand on all of their shoulders. Their work is the reason this bill exists. [Translation] Accordingly, following the May 31st, 2021, replenishment of the Even though a motion on basic income was presented in the order of precedence with 15 new items, I wish to inform the House House by the member for Winnipeg Centre, Bill C-273 represents that there is one bill which preoccupies the Chair: It is Bill C-301, the first time a bill on basic income has been introduced in the An Act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act House of Commons, and it is a true honour for me to speak at the and the Canada Health Act, standing in the name of the member for second reading of this bill. La Prairie. We are slowly coming out of a once-in-a-generation pandemic, [English] and we are all wondering what kind of world we want to come back to. We are all asking ourselves questions about how we want to The understanding of the Chair is that this bill may need to be live, inquiring about some of the models and systems that are cur‐ accompanied by a royal recommendation. rently in place. We are looking with new eyes at the economic mod‐ [Translation] el that has been the foundation of global growth. We have a much better understanding of the human impacts on our planet, which are I therefore encourage hon. members who would like to make ar‐ accelerating climate change, and are asking ourselves how we can guments regarding the requirement of a royal recommendation for change the way we live. We see more clearly the disproportionate Bill C-301 to do so at the earliest opportunity. impact of the pandemic and other global disruptors on the most vul‐ nerable and are asking what our obligations are to those who are I thank hon. members for their attention. less fortunate than us. 8310 COMMONS DEBATES June 14, 2021 Private Members' Business In building back better, what is the world we want to live in? As Even before the pandemic, almost half of all Canadian families we chart a course forward, I believe we need a 21st-century ap‐ were $200 away from coming up short on their monthly bills. The proach that provides stability and better supports for Canadians, jobs they rely on are not what they used to be. People used to turn tackles income inequality, enhances productivity and spurs eco‐ to part-time and temporary work as a last resort during tough times, nomic growth and innovation. but now for many, multiple jobs are needed to pay the bills and meet responsibilities. Bill C-273 proposes to create a new model that would serve as the foundation of our social welfare system. The bill, at its core, is about enabling implementation pilots between the provinces and/or territories and the national government to test large-scale guaran‐ teed basic income programs. This bill is not about testing whether basic income is a good idea. There is already strong and substantial data that supports the effectiveness of a guarantee basic income, but there is much less information on the best ways or models to imple‐ ment and deliver basic income at scale. Bill C-273 would enable us to frame, test and validate different Indeed, the world of work is changing faster than ever before. models to get to those answers and the data. The results of these More workers are shifting to the gig economic, there are more tem‐ implementation pilots and data would ultimately be used to create a porary and short-term jobs, and many jobs, whether blue collar or national guaranteed basic income model. The bill does not propose white collar, are being eliminated by automation and artificial intel‐ which basic income model to use, whether it is a negative income ligence. In addition, disruptions in our economy are happening at model, the Ontario model, the MINCOME model or any other an accelerated rate, faster and more frequently, leaving more Cana‐ model. It also does not articulate a price tag or propose to eliminate dians working harder, longer and feeling like it is more difficult to any existing government-assisted income or support programs. get ahead. Bill C-273, if passed, would have all these details worked out be‐ tween the provinces and/or territories and the federal government. It would allow for interested provinces or territories to model and create a program that works best for their populations. This bill would also collect data in three key areas: the impacts to govern‐ ment, the impacts to the recipient and the impacts to recipient com‐ munities. It also proposes the creation of a framework of national standards. Why am I proposing a bill on guaranteed basic income? Canada's Throughout history, humans have had to adapt to major disrup‐ current social welfare system, created in the 1940s and modernized tions like the ones we are going through now, which include in the 1970s, is still largely at the foundation of the system we have COVID and the move to digital economy, among many others, and today. No matter how many times it is adjusted, too many Canadi‐ we eventually do adapt. However, the period of change can be ans are still falling through the cracks. There are literally hundreds harsh, even ruthless, leaving countless workers behind, with many of income and support programs for Canadians, delivered by never recovering. Our social safety net is not well designed to help dozens of departments and ministries. This complexity leads to our Canadians through transitions, so in my opinion we need a new current service model missing many of the Canadians most in need, model, one that provides stability to those who have been trapped and focuses too often on applications and auditing Canadians and in a cycle of poverty, to those who are in danger of falling into far less so on delivering the actual support they need. Meanwhile, poverty and to the middle class threatened by disruption. even with these programs, income inequality continues to grow de‐ spite our deliberate efforts to tackle it. ● (1110) I am so proud of the many ways our federal Liberal government has tried to directly address income inequality and reduce poverty over the last five years, such as raising taxes on the top 1%, reduc‐ ing it on the middle class, introducing the Canada child benefit, in‐ creasing the Canada workers benefit and increasing the guaranteed income supplement for seniors, among many other things. We have Workers cannot weather economic change without a strong fi‐ greatly reduced poverty in Canada by over a million people, but in‐ nancial floor under them that provides them with stability. Too come inequality continues to be an issue. That is why I believe it is many jobs no longer provide that floor. Low-wage work prevents time to review the foundation of our social welfare system and people from moving on to better opportunities. People cannot take bring it into the 21st century. I believe that a new service model time to train for tomorrow's job market or turn an idea into a busi‐ could be a guaranteed basic income program, one that may simplify ness that employs other people.