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OTTAWA — 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.

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What it costs in additional spending, the thinking goes, it makes up in reduced bureaucracy for both the government and recipients.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos have argued that the Liberal-created Canada Child Benefit, among other measures, amounts to a guaranteed minimum income already.

Photo by Justin Tang/CP / THE CANADIAN PRESS

But in an interview this week with The Canadian Press, Duclos said the current suite of federal programs could one day be enhanced to provide a minimum income of sorts to all Canadians, particularly those without children who aren’t eligible for federal benefits for families, seniors or the working poor.