Annamie Paul, Green Party leader of Canada, Elizabeth May, former Green Party leader and MP, Sheila Regehr, chair of the Basic Income Canada Network, Paul Manly, Green Party MP, and Floyd Marinescu, executive director of UBI Works took part in a Facebook Live panel discussion today on basic income. 

To watch the discussion click here.

CBC News

A B.C. Green Party would move towards a basic income program, make the province carbon neutral by 2045, and spend more than $10 billion over the next three years on a host of environmental and social election promises. 

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau made the promises as part of the party's platform, unveiled Wednesday afternoon, saying it would target people who need help now by building a stronger, more equitable and sustainable province.

"We cannot afford to go back to our old patchwork of social supports that were not meeting the needs of people," said Furstenau.

Chatelaine

With the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) having ended on October 3, some are calling on the Canadian government to transition the temporary pandemic income support into a permanent basic income program, or guaranteed regular income, for everyone. (Applications for CERB’s replacement, the Canada Recovery Benefit, open October 12.)

The emergency benefit—which gave $2,000 every four weeks to Canadians who don’t qualify for EI and saw their incomes drop under $1,000 a month due to the coronavirus—saw 8.86 million people, or nearly a quarter of the Canadian population, apply. Advocates hope that the benefit will set the stage for a universal basic income (UBI), and show Canadians that a basic income program is possible.

RTE News

A universal basic income, free public transport for students and light rail systems for Cork and Galway are amongst the promises being made by the Green Party in Ireland.

In its manifesto being launched in Dublin, the Green Party is proposing fundamental changes in energy generation, transport policy, industry, land use, taxation, planning and housing.

Winnipeg Free Press

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.

Winnipeg Sun

The Green Party of Manitoba laid out specifics on Sunday of one of the party’s main platforms: the proposal for Basic Income and more progressive tax system.

“Dealing with poverty and inequality is not only the right thing to do morally, it is also the smart thing to do economically for taxpayers,” said Green Party of Manitoba leader James Beddome in a press release, outlining the details of the Greens tax reform proposal which includes a fee on pollution and a basic income for Manitobans.

Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike Schreiner, and Green Party of Canada Leader, Elizabeth May, sent the following letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Dear Prime Minister:

We are writing to ask the Government of Canada to step forward to complete the Basic Income pilot project in Ontario. We believe the data and information collected from the pilot project is in the national interest.

As you might be aware, the Government of Ontario recently decided to cancel the Basic Income pilot program that was testing a transformative approach to tackling poverty.

The project was set to run for three years, providing payments to 4,000 low-income people in communities including Hamilton, Brantford, Thunder Bay and Lindsay. Single participants received up to $16,989 a year while couples received up to $24,027.