Kingston city council is the first elected body in Canada to endorse the concept of a guaranteed income.

A lengthy motion, passed on Tuesday night by a unanimous 13-0 vote, calls on municipalities across the country to adopt similar resolutions and send notice to their provincial and federal leaders.

“The vote really was exhilarating. It’s just marvellous that council was of a single mind,” said Toni Pickard, co-founder of Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee.

“What’s so important about this (vote) is this is an elected representative body. It’s not only the first city council but the first elected body.”

One of the first people Pickard contacted after the vote was former Kingston-area senator Hugh Segal, advocate of a similar guaranteed annual income for nearly 50 years.

“Council has shown tremendous courage and real leadership,” Segal told the Whig-Standard in a phone interview from Toronto, where he is master of Massey College. “Municipalities are on the front line of housing and homelessness and poverty.”

Various forms of guaranteed income have been advocated over the years, all around the world.

Essentially, the BIG being proposed now would see the establishment of a base income level for all Canadians; anyone who didn’t reach that level would have their income topped up through the tax system.

Segal became engrossed with the guaranteed income concept while attending a 1969 Conservative party policy conference as an assistant to then-federal leader Robert Stanfield.

Six years later, while working for Premier Bill Davis, he helped introduce the guaranteed annual supplement for seniors.

That top-up payment, he said, resulted in the poverty rate for seniors dropping from 35 per cent to just three per cent, as their health and quality of life improved.

Segal said a guaranteed income would do the same for all Canadians.

“It’s fiscally responsible and it responds to reality in terms of need,” he said. “Give the money to people because they know where to spend it.”

Segal continued to extol the virtues of a guaranteed income even as a senator under the government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, which was not receptive to the idea.

Like Pickard, he senses a shift in attitude toward poverty issues with the election of the Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“It takes courage to say ‘we’re going to try something new,’” Segal said.

The new national movement for a basic income emerged in 2013, and Pickard, now a retired law professor from Queen’s University, helped found Kingston’s chapter, the first in Canada.

“The progress exceeds our hopes, to some degrees our imaginations. We expected maybe 20 years before any political take-up,” she said. “Certainly with the old government it was like a prison door you can’t get through. The change in government is really heartening. Another heartening aspect is just Trudeau’s basic stance to make poverty reduction a top priority.”

The Kingston BIG organizers are now working with the local federal Liberal riding association to adopt a policy resolution for a guaranteed income.

They have been backed in their efforts by the justice, peace and integrity of creation office of the Sisters of Providence in Kingston and a group of dedicated community volunteers.

“Our most basic objective is to raise awareness among Canadians,” Pickard said.

Tuesday’s motion was put forward by city councillors Jeff McLaren and Lisa Osanic.

Answering council questions that night was Queen’s University economist and emeritus professor Robin Boadway.

Boadway, an officer of the Order of Canada, retired from Queen’s a year ago and hooked up with the local BIG group.

“I’ve always had an interest in income equality, including poverty,” he said. “The gains from alleviating poverty are quite large. Essentially, it’s an ethical issue but it’s also a social issue.”

When people have income security, Boadway said, they are able to purchase better food, their health improves and so do the education levels of their children.

He said studies have shown that people do not abuse the system — that a guaranteed income is not a disincentive for finding work; income is not wasted; and the cost to taxpayers is partially offset by the fact that governments would no longer require large bureaucracies to oversee welfare system payments.

In 2004, Canada spent about $130 billion a year on federal and provincial transfer payments such as employment insurance, social assistance and the child tax benefit.

While much of that money would be shifted to the BIG program, Boadway said it would require additional funding to provide a base income of, say, $20,000. However, the dividends would more than compensate.

“This is an investment,” he said. “Giving people a bit more money improves nutrition and health outcomes. In the end, it saves money.”

He believes Kingston city council will be seen as an “innovator” in the anti-poverty movement for its vote on Tuesday.

“I don’t think it should be underrated. I must give credit to the councillors who stood behind this.”

Segal was equally impressed.

“I’ve always been proud of municipal government in the city of Kingston. I’ve never been more proud than at this time,” he said. “It does make me feel hopeful. I’ve never seen such consensus. It’s no longer a debate between left and right.”

paul.schliesmann@sunmedia.ca