FB08 – Hugh Segal on Basic Income for Canada
There is a crisis looming with the poor and marginalized both locally and nationally due in part to cultural/economic change and the current Covid epidemic.
The effects of technological change are profound, creating increased inequality and social breakdown.
The full effects of our current pandemic will not be fully understood for some time, but there are many indications it will also exacerbate these same problems.
Rising unemployment, crime, drug use and deaths are just one indication of the hopelessness that is gutting poor and marginalized families and communities.
Hugh Segal has been an advocate for addressing these problems with his idea of Basic Income for Canada.
Segal is a conservative heavy-weight on our national scene. Former political advisor, senator, and Principal of Massey College (U of Toronto), he is concerned with the need to address major social issues and has done so effectively in the past. He is also a realist in the sense that social progressive ideas need to be firmly based in economic reality. In a way that the Guaranteed Income Supplement(GIS) is available to those with need in retirement, Segal is advocating for a similar system of support for all Canadians ages 18-64 at poverty levels.
Research is supporting his call for change. Alleviation of poverty has both personal and economic implications for better health, higher levels of education, and general positive personal outcomes. Manitoba tried this for a limited time in the past (Mincome), and recently U of Manitoba economist Dr Evelyn Forget has delved into related data to add much credibility to the idea of establishing Basic Income for all in need of income support (both for low-income and unemployed).
Blake Melnick, host of For What it’s Worth, interviews Hugh Segal here (37 minutes) in the first of two podcasts:
http://fwiw.buzzsprout.com/1151…/6641008-comes-a-time-part-1
First published on Facebook Page (My Reads and Views):
www.facebook.com/ronInRegina/posts/157194736149419/
First published here: 2021/02/19