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A Québec solidaire government would launch a pilot project to establish a guaranteed minimum income in several Quebec municipalities, party co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said on Wednesday.

More than 800,000 people live in poverty in Quebec, with more than half of them on welfare, according to the leftist party.

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Québec solidaire believes a well-paid job remains the best way to get out of poverty. That said, with welfare payments of $648 per month, and $1,035 for people with severe impediments to finding work, it is difficult to rise above poverty, Nadeau-Dubois said.

He listed the social and economic costs associated with poverty: more crime, higher dropout rates, health problems and a lower life expectancy, for example.

Nadeau-Dubois says the pilot project would show whether a guaranteed basic income would better support vulnerable people, in a simpler, more effective way than the current welfare system. During a second QS mandate, the system would be installed across Quebec, to replace the welfare system.