Nova Scotians Make the Case for a Guaranteed Basic Income: An Update

 

By Kendall Worth

 There have been a few recurrent themes that I have addressed in this BLOG over the years: the struggles of living in poverty in Nova Scotia, the unfairness and ineffectiveness of the province’s social welfare programs and the negative impact that social isolation has upon people in my community.

But I always try to be constructive in my writings and to make concrete suggestions for how to improve social policy. For this reason, I have made the case for establishing a Social Prescribing Program or Organization in Nova Scotia, as well as proposed policy changes with regards to the Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) programs of the province, including the overly restrictive Career Seek Program.

One of the primary policy changes I have been advocating for is the establishment of a Basic Income or Income Guarantee program in Nova Scotia, as these many BLOGs will show. So, I was pleased to see that local advocates for such an initiative recently made a formal presentation at the NS Legislature in support of such the Basic Income approach to fighting poverty.

The people who were advocating at the Legislature for the Basic Income approach are long-standing friends of this BLOG, who I interviewed some years back in this BLOG post here. Mandy Kay-Raining Bird and Pierre Stevens lead our local advocacy group Basic Income Nova Scotia (BIG-NS).

The purpose of BIG-NS is to “advocate for a Livable Basic Income through outreach, education, and informed conversation. We believe it is a human right to have an income that meets our basic needs and allows everyone to live with dignity.”

In early December, both Mandy and Pierre appeared before a Standing Committee of MLAs to make the case for a Guaranteed Basic Income in Nova Scotia. A video is available of their full testimony, both presentation and discussion with the MLAs. Just click below. A transcript is available here.

Watching the deliberations of the Standing Committee on that day, it is clear to me from the questioning of the Government MLAs and the responses of the civil servants that the Houston Government is NOT considering a Guaranteed Basic Income for Nova Scotia.  They seem to be making the case that recent, small increases in benefit payments as well as the targeted nature of many benefits and programs means that a universal program that would apply to everyone is not only too expensive but also not needed.  

This will come as no surprise to the community of people whose voices I try to amplify and for whose interests I advocate. For many of us, the most promising moment for a large, broad-based reform of the ESIA strategy and approach happened years back when the MacNeil Government of the day was suggesting that a transformation of existing ESIA programs was needed. Unfortunately, despite many promising speeches, this agenda was never seriously pursued by the Liberals when in power (see here), and the whole initiative was quickly scrapped when the Houston PCs came to power in 2021.

Not surprisingly, the community of people I advocate for continues to feel frustrated, mentally drained, and hurt over the fact that the NS Government persists in refusing to seek out solutions or new ways of working to address poverty issues, - when the reality is that the day to day lives of people living in poverty continues to deteriorate.  

I do not claim that a universal Basic Income Guarantee will solve ALL the challenges we face. There are some issues – like housing affordability – that will not be solved by simply ensuring that low income families have a somewhat higher basic income.  There are other types of investments that must be made to ensure that housing becomes – and remains – affordable to all Nova Scotians.

But there are basic issues if we want to ensure that that ALL Nova Scotians can live a life in simple dignity. Yes, simply raising the rates of basic benefits would be an obvious first step, as I have written about for years.  The point about dignity is simply that a truly human life is about more than affordability.  We need lives that are engaged and productive, - rooted in social relationships in an inclusive community.

If we hope to travel along this road towards a Nova Scotia in which all citizens can lead dignified lives that are free of poverty, I remain firmly convinced that the introduction of a guaranteed basic income would be a GREAT first step!

  

Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.