By Roderick Benns 

The Basic Income Waterloo Region group in Ontario will be taking their message about basic income to a smaller centre tomorrow night – the village of New Dundee. 

The coordinator of the local network, John Green, says they are “happy to be invited to talk about basic income with a more rural audience.” 

“It will be a first for us. It will be interesting to hear whether they respond differently from urban audiences we have spoken with,” says Green.

This ran as a letter to the editor in the Waterloo Record, in response to an op-ed piece expressing concern about Ontario's basic income pilot.

In their recent op-ed, Joey Edwardh and Peter Clutterbuck expressed their concern about the upcoming Ontario basic income guarantee pilot and argued for more emphasis on other social services, particularly job creation aimed at full employment.

I agree that the desired outcomes of our social and economic security system should be security, stability and dignity — in other words, good quality of life and well-being.

I also agree with the authors' concern that the government might implement a basic income guarantee and cut too many other supports. No one should expect any one social program to satisfy every need of every person. No basic income advocate that I know of thinks basic income alone can do that. 

Waterloo Region in Ontario has become the largest municipality in Canada’s largest province to support the movement toward establishing a Basic Income Guarantee in Canada.

The motion – which originated with Kingston City Council and was sent to all municipalities across Ontario – called for a national discussion on the issue, urging the provinces and federal government to work together to “consider, investigate, and develop a Basic Income Guarantee for all Canadians.”