Canadian Basic Income Pilot Project Already Creating Huge Impact

Basic Income Canada

Launched in April 2017, Ontario is one of the first places in the world to test a guaranteed basic income. For three years, single participants will receive $ 16,989 per year and couples will receive $ 24,027. Disabled participants are eligible for an additional $ 6,000 per year. A third-party research team will assess the effects on people's physical and mental health, food security, stress and anxiety, housing stability, education and employment.

The project has done a lot in the last six months. Whether it's buying a car, getting a high school diploma or going to university, which would have been out of reach, but as a participant in the basic income pilot program from Ontario, they can now afford.

Contrary to the belief that bad decisions lead to poverty, the data indicates that it is the cognitive balance of being poor that leads to bad decisions. The results suggest that to succeed in reducing poverty, it would be useful to take this psychology into account. Participants will be compared to a control group who will not receive the basic income but will complete surveys on their life and well-being.

The basic income has been of great help. They can afford activities for children that would have been impossible before. The program has been a boon for local businesses. Since the launch of the program, Fresh Fuell's customers have spent more. This has a ripple effect here now because other people have a basic income in the community and they know they have a little more to come. You can see people with this flexibility to spend a little more, it is a benefit for everyone for the person who is spending, for the person who receives it.

Ontario is not the only place to experience any basic income. In recent years, projects have been set up in the Netherlands, Kenya and Stockton, California, Finland, a number of Scottish municipalities are also implementing basic income projects.

Basic Income Canada Network : https://www.basicincomecanada.org