Group of Senators Issue Statement to Support PEI as Location to Launch BIG & Kim the Senator(tiktok)

Good news! I am sharing (below) an excerpt of a letter from a group of Senators spearheaded by Sen. Kim Pate and shared by Marie Burge in her PEI update on Basic Income Guarantee:

Senators Call for Federal Support of PEI

Guaranteed Livable Basic Income

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 5, 2021— “Let’s Get ‘er done!” is the overwhelming sentiment of Prince Edward Islanders seeking federal support to implement a full-scale guaranteed livable basic income (GLBI). From the Premier, to members of the Opposition, First Nations leaders and people in the community, the calls are clear and growing for the federal government to help make this program a reality.

PEI is the perfect place to launch GLBI. Collaboration between the federal and PEI governments would allow PEI to demonstrate how GLBI could both address poverty and promote the resilience of local economies. GLBI would deliver significant benefits to Islanders at a relatively low cost to the federal government. Moreover it would enhance PEI’s serious commitment to such anti-poverty measures as the province’s poverty elimination strategy as well as programs like the Secure Income Program Pilot and proposed Targetted Basic Income Guarantee.

COVID-19 has emphasized the importance of robust income support. Many benefitted from vital federal support, yet many were still left to struggle during the pandemic. One in four Islanders was forced to rely on foodbanks to put food on their tables.

As well as a few of the “talking points” to support further understanding of BIG that the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income wrote last April. Below is excerpted from pgs 1-3 of Talking Points document by PEIWGLI, 21-04-22

Is a Basic Income Guarantee the same as a Universal Basic Income?

· There are many models for basic income that have been tried in Canadian communities in Manitoba and Ontario and outside Canada in places including Finland, Brazil, India, Kenya, and more.

· The model we advocate for, after years of consultation with the PEI community, is a basic income guarantee that sets an income floor that no one would fall below, so it would eliminate the risk of falling into poverty.

· Rather than a cheque to everyone of every income level (which would include very rich people), the basic income guarantee we want would be available to any adult, but it would be income-tested,so a benefit would only go to those who need it to top up the level of their income, no matter the source of their income.

o The Canada Child Benefit works this way, for example. It gets to all children who need it based on their family’s income on their tax return.

o For seniors, the Guaranteed Income Supplement works like this as well: it goes to anyone 65+ whose income is below a specified level, as indicated on their tax return.

o Most people want more than the basics. When they know their basic needs can be met, most will find ways to increase their income and quality of life.

o Above the “income floor,” basic income guarantee recipients could earn as much as they wanted from whatever sources they wanted. A percentage of their additional income would be taxed back until their earnings were high enough not to need a basic income top-up anymore.

§ For example, if a person receiving Basic Income Guarantee benefits earned $1,000 additional dollars, and the reduction rate was 40%, $400 would be taxed back. If they continued to earn more income from other sources to be able to meet their needs, their BIG benefit would gradually reduce. If their income went down again below the income floor, they would be eligible for Basic Income Guarantee benefits again. They could keep any savings they put aside from their time of higher income.

§ By comparison: Currently, a person on social assistance income support in PEI who earned $1,000 additional dollars would be allowed to keep just $250, and if they continued to earn more income from other sources, they would at some point become ineligible for assistance, and their support would be cut off. If their income went down again, they would have to reapply for assistance and prove they met all the eligibility criteria, including having depleted any savings or liquidated their assets first.

· A basic income guarantee would not discriminate on the basis of what kind of work or how much work a person does. It would give value to unpaid and underpaid work and transform our understanding of work.

o Basic Income Guarantee benefits would be available to people working full-time at low wages or part-time with less than enough income. It would support people with precarious work and people who can only work some of the time because of health or disability. It would support caregivers doing unpaid work and community volunteers, entrepreneurs, and artists alike.

o The workforce is changing rapidly! Many traditional jobs are being replaced by automation, and that trend will continue. Employment standards and wages and employment supports are not keeping up with the changes.

· The principles of basic income guarantee and the model we support are reflected in the (good, even if imperfect) model the Special Committee on Poverty in PEI presented. All PEI political parties supported their model through their endorsement of the Special Committee report.

What about design of the program? What about X or Y problem in a basic income model that was tried in another location? Will a PEI model be the same as an Ontario model?

· The way a basic income guarantee is designed really matters, and it will take some work to get it right. Any design will need to be tweaked to make sure it meets everyone’s needs equitably.

· In PEI we have a good place to start with a basic income guarantee design in the research of the Special Committee on Poverty in PEI.

· We would like grassroots people, especially people living in low income and close to low income, to be involved in the program design and roll-out.

· We believe that in PEI, we have what we need to design a good system and to tweak what needs tweaking. We have strong public support and knowledge of basic income, and strong principles that all political parties have agreed to. Examples of principles:

o Universal and unconditional to all adults, no matter their work status.

§ Note: In the case of the model we support, “universal” does not mean that benefits automatically go to every adult in Canada. It means that every adult in Canada is universally able to have their income tested to determine if they need a top-up benefit, no matter who they are or where their income comes from.

o Sufficient to provide for people’s basic needs. To us, this means enough to pay rent or mortgage and monthly utility bills, to buy nutritious food and medicine, to use transportation, to continue learning, to access childcare or eldercare, and to deal with emergencies.

o Grounded in human rights.

o Based on evidence and continuing research and evaluation to figure out how to continuously improve the program.

What is the biggest benefit of a Basic Income Guarantee?

· In the places that have used a Basic Income Guarantee, the biggest benefit was to people’s health. That includes both their physical and mental health.

· Income is the most important social determinant of health. When people do not have enough income, their health suffers.

Healthcare costs are the biggest expense of governments in Canada. Allowing people to live in poverty costs their health, the health system, and all of us who rely on healthcare

Thanks for reading!

Jill

ps--fun personal story for you since you made it this far:

Our sixteen year old daughter recently had a celebrity sighting of Sen Kim Pate sitting on a deck chair outside of the lovely Moonsnail Soapworks soaking up some late day sun in the afternoon of the day she came for meetings to discuss BIG.

I was driving our car on Water St after picking our youngest up from a program and she suddenly said

"Mom--can you go around the block again? I need to see if the person I just saw was who I think it was."

I was tired and didn't want to but somewhat intrigued so I humoured her and went around the block to have her exclaim excitedly:

"Oh my gosh--it is her--it's Senator Kim!"

To which I replied

"Sen who?"

to which she replied

"You know mom--Kim the Senator on tiktok who I showed you last summer--she is really amazing."

This totally (impressively) twigged my tired mom brain and I did recall her sweet enthusiasm last summer when showing me how cool and important Sen Kim's posts were to her.

And then in a flash of genius, I recalled that in Chris Ortenburger's wonderful newsletter that morning Chris had informed me of a Sen visiting the Island to discuss BIG during morning meetings in Charlottetown.

I knew why she was on PEI! To discuss and support BIG here!

Two cheers for us that day...

1) that my amazing youngest daughter watches an amazing Senator enough on tiktok to catch a drive by celebrity sighting...As a passionately engaged young person, she watches her videos because Kim the Senator actually takes the time to talk to youth about imp issues that matter greatly to many young citizens.

2) that I could impress my teenage daughter by knowing what I knew, thanks to Chris O!

Big, big cheers to Chris O, Marie Burge and PEIWGLI as well as Sen. Kim Pate and all the senators who signed on the letter including our three Island senators.