Skip to main content

A Basic Income Program for all Manitobans

Gerrard will create a task force to develop basic income
program ready for 2020.

Winnipeg, MB – Today Jon Gerrard announced together with David Northcott, a task force to
develop a province-wide basic income program for all Manitobans.

Jon Gerrard said, “Should I be elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal party on October 21, one
of my first acts will be to appoint David Northcott as chair of a task force to develop the basic
income program. He will utilize his experience with Winnipeg Harvest along with guidance
from those with lived experience to create it."

A basic income, or guaranteed minimum income program, has been talked about for years, and
pilots are underway currently in Ontario. The plan to be developed by the Task Force chaired by David Northcott will be a province-wide basic income program which uses the tax system to implement it, and
will include supports for community and social engagement through volunteerism. The program will decrease poverty and protect the dignity of recipients while maintaining essential services

“In my training as an economist, and subsequently, I have watched the work on a basic income
program as it has evolved, and I believe the time is now to deliver it,” said Gerrard. “It is
important now, more than ever, not just to help those who are poor, but to ensure a basic
income level for those who find themselves out of work and in transition to a new job.
It will allow, for example, a more adequate period of retraining than is allowed under current
programs.”

The Task Force will include Sid Frankel, Associate Professor of the University of Manitoba
Faculty of Social Work, and Les Johnson, Economist and President of The Manitoba Institute of Management, as well as the chair David Northcott, former executive director of Winnipeg Harvest. “I am excited by the prospect of designing a workable system for Manitoba,” said Northcott. “I have long dreamed of the day when we could have a basic income program to support people to reduce poverty and reduce the need for food banks.”

“As a political economist, I believe this program could be revenue neutral in 4 years,” said Les
Johnson, “it can quickly become a matter of fact with a tax revenue analysis.”

 See this link for a short video of announcement




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March.  South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory.   The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions.   This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14.  Manitoba ( red line )  started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then.   South Dakota ( blue line )   has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4.  Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations
18 comments
Read more

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

  On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Dougald Lamont speaks out strongly against the "reprehensible", "legally and morally indefensible" Bill 2

 Early in the morning, just after 3 am, on November 6th, Dougald Lamont spoke at third reading of Bill 2, the Budget Implementation and Statutes Amendment Act.  He spoke strongly against the bill because it attempts to legitimize a historic injustice against children in the care of child and family services.  As  Dougald says this bill is " the betrayal of children, First Nations and the people of this province. " Mr. Dougald  Lamont  (St. Boniface):   These are historic times. This is an  historic budget, for all the wrong reasons.  I was thinking of the Premier's (Mr. Pallister) comments about D-Day today and my relatives who served in combat in the First and Second World War. I had a relative who played for the Blue Bombers and served at D-Day with the Winnipeg Rifles because he was an excellent athlete, he made it quite a long way up the beach.       And had he lived until last year, he might have been one of the veterans the Premier insulted by not showing up at a
1 comment
Read more