Global News

The Trudeau Liberals appear to be warming to the idea of a guaranteed national minimum income as they search for ways to help Canadian workers adapt to an unsteady labour market.

A guaranteed minimum income means different things to different people, but at its core is a no-strings-attached payment governments provide instead of an assortment of targeted benefits.

Case for Basic Income

In 2016 the the federal Liberals voted to shake-up Canada’s social policy by moving toward a “minimum guaranteed income” model, or basic income.

Now, the party wants to push that message hard again in 2018 with another resolution in support of a basic income guarantee for all Canadians.

At the party’s national convention held in Winnipeg two years ago, the resolution states the party will, in consultation with the provinces, “develop a poverty reduction strategy aimed at providing a minimum guaranteed income.”