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A Manitoba Liberal leadership candidate promises to design a guaranteed income for the province, if chosen to lead his party.

If elected as leader Saturday, Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard said he’d launch a task force to develop a province-wide basic income.

The idea was tested four decades ago in Manitoba through a federal/provincial minimum income pilot project in Dauphin.

Gerrard says that 1974 to 1979 test succeeded in raising people out of poverty.

“This program will reduce poverty, it will maintain dignity and it will support the economy because people with low incomes tend to spend their money locally,” Gerrard said.

A Manitoban who recalls sleeping in a local church while homeless said there’s a desperate need for the change.

“Being homeless, or not having enough of an income to feed yourself or your family, robs people of their dignity. It’s time that we change our approach in Manitoba,” Robert Lidstone said.

Gerrard said the task force would be led by David Northcott, the former executive director of Winnipeg Harvest. The River Heights MLA said the group would determine what basic income level Manitobans require and what government can actually afford to pay.

Payments would come through top ups after income tax returns are filed each year, Gerrard said.

The task force will begin by exploring a base income of between $12,000 and $22,000.

Gerrard expects a full plan would be developed by 2020, the year Manitobans are slated to choose their next government.

Fellow Liberal leadership contestant Dougald Lamont said he also supports the idea but would prefer it head straight to a pilot project.

“As far as striking a task force, that seems to be planning to plan. Trying a pilot project could get real results,” Lamont said.

Lamont believes a basic income would likely require some federal funding and should be paired with a clear job creation strategy.

Gerrard said he’s prepared to partner with a federal program or act independently.

But a taxpayers’ watchdog believes such a program would only be a success if it can replace some other elements of a complicated system of social supports and ensure the province can actually afford it.

“If it replaces a lot of other programs, and therefore is more efficient, because of delivery, it might be a positive development,” said Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “If you just layer another program on top, you’re actually probably making the problem worse (and) costing taxpayers more money.”

jpursaga@postmedia.com

Twitter: @pursagawpgsun