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The next Ontario government might want to look more seriously at a hybrid model of universal basic income and social supports. A tsunami of inflation, higher interest rates, ballooning housing costs, and a pandemic hangover will require immediate and systemic adaptation.
Positive news for North Bay and area, including record-breaking development and a reversal of population decline, provides a measure of regional hope. But it is unwise to think that washes away growing deficits in affordable housing, food security, and support for mental health and addictions. The millions being spent on transition programs locally is a mere bandage on a festering wound created by past cuts and decisions.
The recently announced partnership between Canadore College and the province will help address the lack of mental health and addictions treatment for existing needs. More challenges are coming and the smart bet is to look at ‘upstream’ dams and diversions to avoid a logjam of destitution.
Today’s strife over what constitutes freedom and tyranny will be in the rear-view mirror as family members, friends and neighbours face harsher fiscal realities. It’s not exactly hyperbole to say the contagion of tomorrow will be debt burden and bankruptcy, with the inflicted crashing the current system like an overflowing intensive care unit.
Or not, depending on how global conflict boiling over in eastern Europe and Asia, as well as a looming civil war in North America, plays out.
In a perfect world, we’d have the results of a three-year universal basic income pilot project initiated in 2017 to fuel the conversation, but it was cancelled midway by the newly installed Progressive Conservative Party in 2019. There’s little benefit in going into detail about how they promised to let it run its course and flipped after the election. Suffice to say they believed, and still likely do, that the best way to turn someone into an ‘economic contributor is to make poverty painful.
There is an argument to be made about how hunger and misery can motivate some individuals to do great things with their life. Surviving long enough to build upon small victories and eventually pull oneself out of the ditch does indeed build character and strength. There are libraries of biographies detailing impressive ‘rags to riches’ tales that would bring an arena of middle-class wannabes to a rousing standing ovation. The promise or potential to be among those who can pull themselves up by the boot straps is intoxicating. Rolling up the sleeves and wiping the sweat from the brow while dreaming of a day when you can afford to pay others to do the work is, for many, an ideal adventure.
But for every brick of self-made success, we end up with a truck load of broken, unhealthy souls weighing down another generation destined by birth alone to crawl out of an ever-sinking hole. At the same time, despite an expanding universe of opportunity showcased online, society offers a future where hope and meaningful purpose are harder to grasp.
An alternate view is that many productive hours and untold millions of dollars are wasted in the bureaucracy meant to tie a knot in provincial purse strings.
Supporters of universal basic income programs argue it is more efficient and less costly to keep individuals and families from falling through the safety net in the first place. A parent can’t help their children if their existence depends on being away from them to hold down second and third jobs.
As the theory goes, it’s easier to lift someone up from a sitting position to stand on their own two feet than it is to start when they are lying face down. It costs way more to fix a shattered spirit and sick body than to help someone avoid such dire circumstances.
Personally, I lean toward universal support systems more than basic incomes, as poorly spent money tends to muddy the welfare waters. There are ways to ensure basic needs are provided without having to pay dollars to police pennies. There are ways to incentivize effort beyond the whip.
Others believe it’s more beneficial and humane to provide basic income, leaving it to individuals to choose how it is spent so they can maintain pride and build esteem into their recovery.
Those conversations, however, can only be had once there is an agreement a better outcome can be achieved regardless of what new path is struck.
In a country of great wealth and resources like Canada, built on a dream of social cohesion and fraternity, there really isn’t an excuse not to provide everyone with sustenance levels of food, housing and health care. I certainly wouldn't mind paying the fee for a licence plate renewal sticker if I knew it was used to pave the way for someone who is on the bumpy road of hard times.
Imagine the potential if everyone – those who are struggling and those who dedicate much of their lives to helping them – can focus on betterment instead of the next meal.
Dave Dale is a veteran journalist and columnist who has covered the North Bay area for more than 30 years. Reader responses meant as Letters to the Editor can be sent to [email protected]. To contact the writer directly, email: [email protected] or check out his website www.smalltowntimes.ca
