What would you do if your income was taken care of?

It’s a question surrounding the idea of a guaranteed basic income which would give a boost to the working poor and replace social assistance entirely by providing a no-strings attached standard monthly payment for adults between the ages of 18 and 65.

A discussion paper released earlier this month by Ontario’s special advisor, Hugh Segal, suggests topping up incomes of the working poor and replacing the province’s paltry and complicated social assistance program with a monthly payment of at least $1,320 for a single person — about 75 per cent of the poverty line. The proposal also called for an additional $500 a month to participants with disabilities.

Ontario is on the precipice of a three-year pilot to test out the concept of a guaranteed basic income and residents have been invited to share their views on the proposal online, as well as during several public consultations, by the end of January.

It’s a consultation Ruth Ingersoll, executive director for Community Development Council of Quinte, certainly plans to get in on.

“I like the model and the idea of a basic income,” said Ingersoll, adding it would relieve many of the barriers surrounding the complex Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and social assistance programs. “I think basic income is a more dignified and respectful way to give people money and it would give everybody an income floor.”

Ingersoll also said she believes it would eliminate chronic cycles of poverty exacerbated by the systems currently in place — having to liquidate assets and prove they’re poor in order to receive assistance.

“They’re down that rabbit hole and it almost puts them in poverty permanently.”

A basic income would also open up more opportunities to those living below the poverty line, like getting a post-secondary education or to supplement part-time “precarious” work.

“Which is the only thing we have available for the most part, almost across the province and definitely locally.”

It goes beyond just money in the bank for Ingersoll, it also removes a lot of anxiety and stress in people’s lives.

“Our poverty isn’t just with people on social assistance and ODSP, our poverty is with the working poor as well. People are only able to find part-time minimum wage jobs.

“We have people coming in our doors working two to three jobs just to make ends meet. And those are the people falling between the cracks.”

A common argument against basic income is the worry it will incentivize people to stay unemployed and live off the government.

It’s a worry Ingersoll doesn’t share, saying she feels the opposite is more likely.

“Right now their incentive to work when they’re on social assistance is so low because they’re cutting back their cheques for the money that they make,” she explained.

Part-time work, added to a basic income, would allow people currently on social assistance to live above the poverty line. Comfortably, but not extravagantly.

That being said, she’s not without some concerns of her own.

The first is the timing of the three-year proposed pilot, which will hit its mid-way point around the same time as the next provincial election and what happens to the pilot if there’s a governmental power shift.

The second is what happens to people involved in the pilot at the end of the three years.

“These are people’s lives, so what happens at the end of three years and you decide you’re not going to go ahead. Meanwhile these people have lived on this income. Are they going to go back to the poor income they had before on social assistance?”

The third is the worry the government sees basic income as a fix-all for poverty issues.

“And there’s so many other aspects of poverty,” she said, adding transportation, affordable housing and affordable childcare as issues. “As long as the government realizes it’s not going to solve everything.”

The public survey can be found at https://www.ontario.ca/form/basic-income-pilot-public-survey

tjmiller@postmedia.com