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Think Piece: Wealth inequality, health and health equity

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Think Piece: Wealth inequality, health and health equity

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VIDEO: A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea? - The National -Sept 3 2024

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VIDEO: A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea? - The National -Sept 3 2024

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A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea?

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REPORT: Ending Poverty Starts Locally: Federation of Canadian Municipalities - 2017

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REPORT: Ending Poverty Starts Locally: Federation of Canadian Municipalities - 2017

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ADVOCACY: Canadian Senate Factsheet -> Beyond the Basics: Guaranteed Livable Basic Income & Bill S-233 - July 5 2024 

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ADVOCACY: Canadian Senate Factsheet -> Beyond the Basics: Guaranteed Livable Basic Income & Bill S-233 - July 5 2024 

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Published by Senator Kim Pate, Ontario, this series of factsheets answers common questions & concerns regarding Guaranteed Basic Income:

The Financial Costs of a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income

Will Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Discourage Work?

Will Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Cause Inflation?

Reaching Those Most Marginalized

Guaranteed Livable Basic Income & Existing Programs

The Cognitive Tax of Scarcity

How Guaranteed Livable Income Benefits and Supports Indigenous Communities & Peoples

How Guaranteed Livable Income Benefits and Supports Farming and Fishing Industries

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VIDEO: A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea? - Sept 3 2024

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VIDEO: A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea? - Sept 3 2024

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Interviews on CBC the National re. Basic Income

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A guaranteed paycheque — is universal basic income a good idea?

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TOOL: CBRM Municipal Election - Green Engagement 

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TOOL: CBRM Municipal Election - Green Engagement 

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REPORT: 2024 Living Wages for NFLD, NS & PEI  - Aug 2024 

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REPORT: 2024 Living Wages for NFLD, NS & PEI  - Aug 2024 

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See page 5 for rates by region. $24.00/hour living wage in Cape Breton and $28.30 in Halifax.

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REPORT: Beyond Hunger: The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada 

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REPORT: Beyond Hunger: The Hidden Impacts of Food Insecurity in Canada 

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Document contains excerpts from the report that focus on employment insurance and basic income

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REPORT: 2024 Poverty Reduction Strategy, British Columbia 

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REPORT: 2024 Poverty Reduction Strategy, British Columbia 

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TOOL: Federal Riding Profile Cape Breton-Canso -2024

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TOOL: Federal Riding Profile Cape Breton-Canso -2024

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Published by Community Food Centers of Canada

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INFOGRAPH: EZ - Income and Health: Eastern Zone Community Health Board Planning Tool 

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INFOGRAPH: EZ - Income and Health: Eastern Zone Community Health Board Planning Tool 

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REPORT: Basic Income - On Data and Policy

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REPORT: Basic Income - On Data and Policy

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ARTICLE: The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions

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ARTICLE: The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions

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ARTICLE: Basic Income for Immigrants Too 

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ARTICLE: Basic Income for Immigrants Too 

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ARTICLE: The resurgence of the Basic Income and Migration Dilemma: Subsuming the Canadian Migrant Worker in the Basic Income Discourse - 2021

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ARTICLE: The resurgence of the Basic Income and Migration Dilemma: Subsuming the Canadian Migrant Worker in the Basic Income Discourse - 2021

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ADVOCACY: Common Questions About Basic Income

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ADVOCACY: Common Questions About Basic Income

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Published by Basic Income Earth Network, based in the UK

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What is a Basic Income?

A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement.

Sometimes called Universal Basic Income, a Citizen's Income, or a Citizen's Basic Income, it is not the same as a Minimum Income Guarantee; A Basic Income does not reduce as one earns more. For more information: About Basic Income

Why do we need it?

Because someone's Basic Income would never be taken away, it would

provide a secure financial platform to build on

enable the employment market to become more flexible at the same time as enhancing income security

give to everyone more choices over the number of hours for which they were employed

enable carers to balance their caring and other responsibilities

make it easier to start new businesses or to go self-employed, and

encourage personal freedom, creativity, and voluntary activity

Because everyone would get a Basic Income, it would

create social cohesion, and

carry no stigma

Because the Basic Income would never be withdrawn, it would

reduce the poverty trap for low income families, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty by seeking new skills, better jobs, or additional hours of employment

reduce the unemployment trap, so getting a job would always mean additional disposable income

Because Basic Income would be simple and efficient, it would

be easy to understand

be cheap to administer and easy to automate

not be prone to errors or fraud

Many current benefits system are no longer fit for purpose. They assume that everyone has a stable single employment, that household structures don't change, and that individuals' circumstances change very rarely. Our lives are no longer like that: and as technology and the employment market continue to change, our benefits systems will become even less appropriate.

In a context of rapid change, the only useful system is a simple one. A Basic Income is as simple as it gets.

For a list of 101 reasons for a Basic Income, see Malcolm Torry's book, 101 Reasons for a Citizen's Income.

Why pay money to the rich when they don't need it?

It is efficient to pay the same level of income to everybody of the same age and then tax it back from those who don't need it. The alternative is to means-test incomes so that only those who are poor receive them: but that results in complexity, stigma, errors, fraud, and intrusive bureaucratic interference in people's lives.

Would Basic Income be financially feasible?

Tests for a Citizen's Basic Income scheme's financial feasibility might be listed as follows:

Revenue neutrality ( - that is, it would be funded by making changes to the current tax and benefits system), or sustainable additional funding should be shown to be feasible

Poverty and inequality need to fall

Low income households should suffer no significant losses at the point of implementation, and no household should suffer unmanageable losses

Income Tax rates should rise by a clearly manageable amount

A significant number of households should be released from means-tested benefits

Would people still work?

If by 'work' we mean 'paid employment', then the answer is yes. In the short to medium term, we are unlikely to see a Basic Income that would be sufficient to live on, so everyone would need additional sources of income. And because Basic Incomes would not be withdrawn as earnings rose, any family taken off means-tested benefits by their Basic Incomes would experience a reduction in withdrawal rates, and would experience more incentive to seek employment, or to start their own business, than they do now.

If by 'work' we mean purposeful activity of any kind, then the answer is again yes. By providing a secure layer of income, a Basic Income would enable people to readjust their employment hours in order to undertake additional caring and community work.

Why pay money to people who do nothing?

In many countries we are already paying means-tested benefits to people who do nothing, and the complexity and sanctions associated with those payments demotivate people and can tip their families into poverty. A Basic Income would take a lot of people off means-tested benefits, and so would encourage economic activity. Pilot projects in India and Namibia showed that in countries with less developed economies, and without comprehensive benefit systems, even quite small Basic Incomes increase economic activity among households with the lowest disposable incomes.

Would immigration go up?

As with other benefits, a government would be likely to require a period of legal residence before someone could receive a Basic Income. Because Basic Income would provide everyone with a secure layer of income, and therefore a greater employment incentive than means-tested benefits, anyone coming into the country would be even more likely to contribute to the economy than they are now.

Would wages fall?

Means-tested benefits function as dynamic subsidies - that is, they rise if wages fall, which can encourage wage-cutting. A Basic Income would not rise if wages fell, so employers would experience more resistance if they attempted to cut wages.

Some wages might rise. Because everyone would have a secure financial platform on which to build an income strategy, some workers would be more able to leave undesirable jobs in order to start their own businesses, or to learn new skills and seek new jobs; and workers would be able to spend longer looking for a job that they might want, rather than just any job. Either currently undesirable jobs would have to improve, or wages would have to rise in order to attract workers.

Some wages might fall. Because everyone would have a secure income layer, some people might decide to take a desirable job even if it didn't pay very much. Wage levels for desirable jobs might therefore fall.

Would a Basic Income threaten the welfare state?

If a revenue neutral Citizen's Basic Income scheme were to be implemented, then no cuts to public services would be required. The amounts of means-tested benefits received by households would fall, but only because those households were already receiving Basic Incomes. Benefits specifically designed to cover the additional costs of disability, and benefits to cover the differing housing costs in different areas, would continue.

Would a Basic Income cause inflation?

Inflation occurs when the amount of money available to spend is greater than the value of the economy's productive capacity. In that situation, if the amount of money keeps growing, then each unit of money can buy progressively less, so money loses its value, sometimes rapidly. A Basic Income scheme paid for purely by making changes to the current tax and benefits system would not add to the money supply, so inflation would not occur. If the amount of money available to spend was below the productive capacity of the economy, then a government could create money until the gap was filled, and that new money could be used to pay a Basic Income: but if inflation started to occur, then money creation would have to stop, and new taxes would have to be used to pay for the Basic Income.

Has a Basic Income ever been tried?

Short pilot projects have taken place in Namibia and India, and something like a Basic Income has been implemented by accident in Iran. Experiments with the similar but different Minimum Income Guarantee and Negative Income Tax in the United States and Canada during the 1970s showed useful social outcomes and very little withdrawal from employment. The similarities between the economic effects of a Minimum Income Guarantee and Basic Income would suggest that the results of the Minimum Income Guarantee experiments would be replicated if a Basic Income were to be implemented; and the differences between them mean that the effects are likely to larger for Basic Income than for the 1970s experiments. Basic Income pilot projects and similar experiments continue in the United States, Uganda, Kenya, Spain, and the Netherlands, and experiments are planned for Scotland.

Further reading

More detailed responses to questions can be found in chapter 10 of Malcolm Torry, Why we need a Citizen's Basic Income: The desirability, feasibility and implementation of an unconditional income, Policy Press, 2018.

Recently published introductions to the subject are as follows:

Louise Haagh, The Case for Universal Basic Income, Polity, 2019

Annie Miller, A Basic Income Handbook, Luath Press, 2017

Guy Standing, Basic Income: And how we can make it happen, Penguin, 2017

Malcolm Torry, Why we need a Citizen's Basic Income: The desirability, feasibility and implementation of an unconditional income, Policy Press, 2018

For a detailed treatment of feasibility, see Malcolm Torry, The Feasibility of Citizen's Income, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

For chapters on many aspects of the Basic Income debate by world experts, see The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income, Palgrave, 2019

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Common Questions About Basic Income | BIEN - Basic Income Earth Network

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What is a Basic Income? A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. Sometimes called Universal Basic Income, a Citizen's Income, or a Citizen's Basic Income, it is not the same as a Minimum Income Guarantee; A Basic Income does not [...]

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REPORT: Preventing Poverty Promoting Prosperity: Nova Scotia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy - 2009

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REPORT: Preventing Poverty Promoting Prosperity: Nova Scotia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy - 2009

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Won't people stop working if we introduce a Basic Income?

It is a myth that work force participation would decline if we had a Basic Income.

A 2016 Harvard and MIT study shows that despite the increase in transfer payments across countries globally, these systems have had no impact on work behaviour ( source). A Basic Income allows for people to pursue work that they find meaningful.

How will we fill entry-level jobs if people can be on Basic Income?

Studies have shown that an increase in transfer payments from the government does not impact work behaviour ( source). People will still take entry-level jobs in order to gain experience.

A Basic Income seems very expensive. Can we really Afford a program like that?

In short - yes, we can afford it.

It may seem like the cost of Basic Income is too high, but it's important to note that in many costing options for Basic Income in our province, the net cost will be the gross cost minus current social assistance benefits. The model proposed in the Basic Income Policy Paper would cost less than what the province currently spends on Income Support.

It's also important to remember that a Basic Income has the potential to eliminate poverty, which would lead to significant savings in terms of health care costs, crime costs, intergenerational costs, and forgone tax revenue.

Won't people just spend their money on temptation goods and unnecessary items?

This is common myth around Basic Income. There is a fear that folks who receive basic income will misspend their money on drugs, alcohol, entertainment, and other "unnecessary" things.

Studies show that recipients in basic Income programs not only reduce the number of purchases on temptation goods, but research suggests that when folks have financial wellbeing, they tend to spend their money on things that help them reach their educational and employment goals ( source), and one study suggests that Basic Income in the long term actually reduces spending on temptation goods ( source).

Wouldn't a Basic Income allow for employers to pay lower wages?

Advocates have expressed concern about the impacts of Basic Income on pay rates; specifically there is a worry that it could give employers an unfair opportunity to reduce pay rates for low-wage workers ( source).

This has not been seen in any Basic Income pilot programs so far, and there is evidence that BI has supported workers to upskill and seek better employment opportunities ( source). A Living Wage would be a complement to a Basic Income, and minimum wage laws are key to making sure that all workers are treated fairly.

It's important to remember that a higher minimum wage is critically important but does not reach everybody. There are lots of people who cannot work for a variety of reasons or who work in a way that is not impacted by minimum wage.

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It is a myth that work force participation would decline if we had a Basic Income. A 2016 Harvard and MIT study shows that despite the increase in transfer payments across countries globally, these systems have had no impact on work behaviour ( source).

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REPORT: A Basic Income for Newfoundland and Labrador Opportunities, Options, and Analysis

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REPORT: A Basic Income for Newfoundland and Labrador Opportunities, Options, and Analysis

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ARTICLE: Basic Income and a Just Society - 2023 

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ARTICLE: Basic Income and a Just Society - 2023 

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Published by the Institute for Public Policy Research

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Canadian governments have over several decades implemented numerous programs and policies to tackle poverty, unemployment, precarious work and unaffordable housing. They have made progress in many areas, but significant gaps remain.

While the overall percentage of people living below the poverty line has fallen, almost 30 per cent of single, working-age adults without children live in poverty. Poverty is also more prevalent among racialized people, those with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and LGBTQ+ individuals. Social assistance programs are often difficult to access, intrusive and disrespectful of those they are intended to serve.

A basic income - a benefit that would guarantee a minimum annual income to some or all citizens - often comes up as a solution to these problems. It is portrayed as a simple and direct way to raise people out of poverty without requiring intrusive adjudication processes. For proponents, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit rolled out during the early days of the pandemic is proof that the concept works.
The challenges are real, but there is no simple fix
The authors of a new book published by the IRPP provide a comprehensive evaluation of a basic income, using it as the basis for an in-depth look at Canada's income and social support programs. Like basic income proponents, they view the existing social support system as flawed, but they argue that a basic income is not the best solution to fix these problems. They caution against relying on any single policy tool, particularly one that is centred on a "simple" cash benefit. "We don't believe there is one simple system that can fix all the problems," they write. "Rather, we view the issues to be addressed as multidimensional, calling for a suite of responses."

Basic Income and a Just Society: Policy Choices for Canada's Social Safety Net is the culmination of a multiyear project that began with the work of the British Columbia Expert Panel on Basic Income. The panel was created in 2018 by the B.C. government to examine whether a basic income could be an effective way to "improve income security, reduce poverty, and address the impact of technological change." The panel commissioned studies from over 40 Canadian and international researchers and conducted targeted public consultations with organizations that represent and work with those who rely on social assistance.

The IRPP book draws on the work of the panel and other research to provide an in-depth assessment of a basic income and the need for social policy reform in Canada. It paints a detailed picture of Canada's existing income and social support system and its many failings. It examines arguments for and against a basic income and analyzes its potential to alleviate poverty, its cost and funding issues, and how it would interact with existing programs.
Is it the best tool to achieve a just society?
The idea of a basic income as a primary social policy tool has come and gone many times since the 1960s and has had the support of numerous groups including antipoverty advocates, political parties, government commissions, academics and more recently Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who predict that advances in artificial intelligence and other innovations will do away with many jobs and require finding an alternative means of distributing income. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated social inequities and exposed major gaps in the existing social safety net, once again brought the idea to the fore.

The claims made for a basic income are wide-ranging, extending from reducing poverty and inequality to improving health and educational outcomes, promoting investments in education and entrepreneurial activity, and ultimately transforming society. Proponents also claim that a basic income, designed as an income-tested cash benefit delivered through the tax system without work requirements, would be far simpler and less intrusive than our current income support system.

To assess these claims and the shortcomings of existing programs, the authors review a wide range of evidence from past basic income pilot projects and recent research. But more importantly, they seek to direct attention to a broader question: How do we design a support system to achieve a more just society - one that promotes self- and social respect for all? They propose a framework for policy design and evaluation consisting of 10 principles - adequacy, access, security, responsiveness, opportunity, social connection, public trust, political stability, reciprocity and community-building - and use it to evaluate both existing social support programs and basic income proposals put forward in Canada.

They conclude that the current system clearly falls short of these goals, calling it inadequate, complex, intrusive, paternalistic and disrespectful of the very people it is intended to serve. In this respect, they agree with the proponents of a basic income. However, they argue that making a basic income the centre of a revamped social support system would be equally complex, more costly and leave many of the existing problems intact.

For instance, based on a complete inventory of transfer programs and social services provided by all three orders of government in British Columbia, the authors consider which ones could be effectively replaced by a basic income without creating undue hardships, and conclude that most of them, including those designed to address the needs of people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, would have to remain in place. Integrating a basic income within existing support systems would only introduce further complexity. (Given the similarities in social programs across the country, the same conclusion would apply elsewhere, they note.)

Also, to deliver a basic income through the tax system in a timely manner, new bureaucratic processes to assess entitlement would need to be created, not to mention the additional mechanisms required to find and reach the vulnerable people who do not file taxes.

The cost of implementing a basic income and how it would be funded are central considerations. Providing a cheque to every Canadian household without any conditions - often referred to as universal basic income - would be prohibitively expensive, the authors conclude. For example, the costs of a universal basic income of $20,000 a year in British Columbia (close to the poverty threshold) would equal the total budget of the province. They show that the only way to implement a basic income that is substantial enough to effectively reduce poverty while keeping costs manageable is to make it income tested - that is, to reduce the amount of benefit provided as recipients' incomes from other sources rise. Effectively, this means recreating "the welfare wall" so often decried by antipoverty advocates.

Taken together, the authors conclude that a basic income-centred system would be complex and costly. Even so, could it still be the best way to spend our social support dollars? Much of the book focuses on careful examinations of the claims made for a basic income in a range of policy areas. In each case, the authors conclude that a basic income might be useful but there is generally an alternative tool that will produce the same outcomes more effectively and at a lower cost.

What's more, the problems associated with poverty extend beyond a lack of money. Many targeted services and in-kind benefits that address the particular needs of a diverse population, such as social housing, medical services and counselling, would still be required even if a basic income was implemented, given the high costs involved. And centring the support system on a cash benefit would not help (and might even harm) the development of strong communities that are an integral part of a just society.

In short, a basic income would fail to deliver on its many promises. It would not solve the shortcomings in Canada's social safety net and it would not lead us toward a more just and inclusive society. Cash transfers will be part of any effective policy reform, but only a part. "It seems preferable, on the face of it, to get to work on fixing what we have rather than replicating the same problems in a different form," the authors conclude.
If not a basic income, then what?
Existing support programs, although clearly flawed, have stood the test of time and have broad public support. As such, the authors argue, they are the right starting point for reform. Rather than providing specific policy recommendations - which would run counter to the collaborative approach that they favour - the authors propose setting reform priorities based on the following broad policy principles and directions:

Provide adequate support: The benefits provided by existing income support programs are inadequate and leave too many recipients, including those with disabilities and working-age single adults without children, living well below the poverty line. Disability and regular income assistance benefits should be raised, although for some, adequacy and effective support could be better achieved through an earnings supplement or changes to Employment Insurance. This calls for a review of income support benefits in all provinces and territories and at the federal level to assess the adequacy of benefits.

Give voice to those affected by programs: Effective change to existing social programs and services can only be achieved with the participation of those receiving assistance. "They should be treated not as subjects to be incentivized or coerced into good behaviour (as is the case with many programs), but as partners whose -knowledge based on lived experience can help make these systems more effective and just." Mechanisms should be put in place through which beneficiaries can provide ongoing input - in contrast to current practice, which consists of gathering input at the policy design stage but provides little scope for adjustment thereafter.

Make community-building a tenet of policymaking: One of the authors' main criticisms of a basic income as a policy approach is its central focus on individual autonomy and its failure to recognize the importance of community in promoting self- and social respect. The premise behind a basic income is that if you provide vulnerable people with adequate financial assistance, they themselves can best determine what other supports they need and acquire them on their own. The authors reject this idea, arguing that in many situations beneficiaries would be best served through effective public services and strong community connections as well as financial assistance. For some of the most vulnerable Canadians, such as those with disabilities and youth aging out of foster care, financial support alone would fall short of what they need. The solution lies in finding a balanced approach that fosters both financial independence and strong community connections.

Place the labour market at the centre of reforms: A better functioning labour market is central to any reform of the social safety net. In recent years, several labour market trends have eroded worker rights and income security: the emergence of platform and app-based companies such as Uber; the shift to "fissured workplaces," where some services are contracted out to third parties; and the steady decline in unionization rates. To address these issues, governments need to proactively determine what the appropriate employment standards regime should be for affected workers. They should also undertake a review of the regulatory implications for fissured workplaces and consider options to extend the reach of private sector unions, perhaps through the creation of industry advisory councils.

Adopt a common benefits platform: Access to income and social support programs is hindered by the complexity of these programs (which are numerous and delivered by different orders of government) and by onerous administrative and adjudication processes that are overly intrusive and disrespectful. One potential solution would be to develop a common benefits platform based on consistent definitions and measures of income and family status that could be used for eligibility assessment and as a delivery mechanism across public programs.

Conduct ongoing evaluations of policy changes: Proposed policy changes should be rolled out incrementally, with evaluation and consultations with affected groups conducted at every step. The consultations should include those receiving supports as well as taxpayers who fund the programs. The gradual roll-out would allow policymakers to monitor the effects of policy changes and adjust them as needed. These measures would also ensure that program and policy changes will survive political cycles.

Embrace the spirit and passion of basic income proponents in social policymaking
Ultimately, the authors conclude that a basic income is not a magic bullet that can easily fix the shortcomings in Canada's social safety net. It would not automatically make vulnerable people better off. And neither would it achieve the broader goal of a more just and inclusive society. A justice-based approach, they argue, requires a fundamental shift in how we approach social policymaking to seeing the most vulnerable among us as equal participants in creating a better society rather than simply as "others in need of our help." They embrace the call for change put forward by basic income proponents but propose using an array of policy tools to get there.

"We see our recommendations as embodying a vision of a Canada that continually strives to use the power of government and the full set of tools at its disposal to balance citizens' desires for individual autonomy and their need for community," they write. "It is a place where evidence, outcomes and the lived experiences of those most affected drive positive policy change. It is a place where no one is left behind."

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This new book from the IRPP argues that fixing the shortcomings in Canada's social safety net can best be achieved with a suite of policy tools.

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Fed Gov: Question Period on Basic Income - 2021 

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Fed Gov: Question Period on Basic Income - 2021 

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The debate over basic income
* The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased calls from a range of stakeholders and experts to introduce a basic income, with the goals of reducing poverty and inequality, addressing the changing nature of work (including automation and increases in precarious employment), and improving population health and well-being. Some basic income advocates also foresee economic benefits from a basic income, such as increases to employment and the Gross Domestic Product.

* In April 2020, fifty senators signed a letter that advocated building on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to establish a "crisis minimum income" for the short-term and then pursue further social and economic reforms.

* In February 2021, Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz introduced Bill C-273, a Private Member's Bill that would establish a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income. This bill, and New Democratic Party MP Leah Gazan's Motion M-46, both attracted attention from basic income advocates. The bill and/or the motion may be revived in a forthcoming Parliamentary session.
* Critics of basic income express concerns about the anticipated costs and disincentives to work, and many oppose payments without requirements to work or seek employment. There are also concerns that important needs-based programming might be cut back or eliminated to help contain costs if a basic income were introduced, potentially leaving some vulnerable individuals worse off. As well, some critics suggest that, rather than a basic income, governments should increase expenditures on social services such as Pharmacare, dental coverage, childcare, and housing.
Existing federal programming
* Provinces and territories have significant authority in the area of income support. Previous communication from ESDC has indicated that the Government of Canada recognizes the importance of working with provinces and territories to find solutions to common challenges, while stating that it is up to the provincial and territorial governments to make decisions around the design of social assistance systems and policies in their own jurisdictions.
* Some Government of Canada initiatives have many of the features of a partial basic income for specific groups. This includes the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which provides income support to families raising children. For Canadian seniors, the Old Age Security (OAS) program play a significant role in providing income security. OAS pensioners who receive little or no income, other than the OAS pension, are eligible for additional assistance through the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). The GIS is income-tested to ensure that this additional assistance is provided to seniors most in need. The Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax Credit (GST/HST) Credit and Climate Action Incentive payments, while small in amount, also have many characteristics of basic income.
* The government has made significant efforts to address the short-term needs of Canadians facing hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. These initiatives include programs such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Recovery Benefits to help replace lost incomes. In addition, one-time enhancements to the GST/HST Credit, Canada Child Benefit, and Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement were provided, along with one-time payments to persons with disabilities.
* Budget 2021 contained several measures that will help to reduce poverty and inequality and ensure an inclusive recovery. These measures include: working with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to build a Canada-wide, community-based system of child care, with new investments totaling up to $30 billion over the next 5 years, and $8.3 billion per year ongoing; increasing regular Old Age Security payments for pensioners 75 and over by 10 per cent as of July 2022; changes to make Employment Insurance more accessible and simple for Canadians; expanding the Canada Workers Benefit to support about 1 million additional Canadians in low-wage jobs; investing in housing; taking action to create almost 500,000 new job and training opportunities for workers; and establishing a $15 federal minimum wage benefiting more than 26,000 workers in the federally regulated private sector.

Ontario pilot project
* In April 2017, the Ontario Government launched a three-year basic income pilot project. The 4,000 participants were low-income people aged 18 to 64 in selected communities. Payments were based on 75 percent of Statistics Canada's Low-Income Measure (LIM). A single individual received $16,989 annually, less 50 percent of earned income, while couples received $24,027 less 50 percent of any combined earned income. People with disabilities received an additional $500 per month. Participants were also eligible to receive certain benefits including the CCB.

* The Ontario Basic Income pilot tested a potential new approach to income support that would replace social assistance, and possibly other programming, if it were fully implemented.

* The Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services announced in July 2018 that the basic income pilot would be cancelled. Payments to participants continued only until March 2019.

* Legal action to overturn the Ontario government's cancellation of the pilot was pursued. The Ontario Superior Court ruled against the challenge in February 2019.
* A separate class action lawsuit was launched against the Ontario government seeking damages due to the cancellation of its pilot. The plaintiffs, participants in the pilot, sought damages on various grounds, including breach of contract, negligence, breach of public law duty, and violation of section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (life, liberty, and security of the person). The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2020, and the plaintiffs' lawyers have indicated that they will appeal the decision.
* In March 2019, Basic Income Canada Network reported on an unofficial, non-random survey of 424 participants in the Ontario pilot. Key findings include:
* 34 percent of participants found that the basic income supported employment by enabling transportation, childcare, or the ability to start or expand a business.
* 74 percent of respondents said they were able to make healthy food choices.
* However, when the cancellation of the pilot was announced, 80 percent of respondents experienced previous problems returning, and 61 percent had to alter future plans.

* In March 2020, economist Wayne Lewchuk of McMaster University and colleagues released a separate unofficial report, based on surveys and interviews with 217 former pilot participants in the Hamilton area. Findings of the study include:
* For some participants, basic income was "transformational, fundamentally reshaping their living standards as well as their sense of self-worth and hope for a better future."
* A majority of respondents who were employed before the pilot continued to work while receiving a basic income. Some moved to better paid jobs.
Other provinces and territories
* Other provinces have shown interest in the idea of a basic income. Ernie Hudson, P.E.I.'s former Minister of Social Development and Housing, asked the federal government "to consider additional partnership, such as funding support" for a BI pilot project, and P.E.I. Premier Dennis King has made a similar request. The P.E.I. government also launched a "secure income" pilot with means-tested benefits for individuals with severe barriers to entering the workforce (i.e., it is narrower in scope than a full basic income).

* The provincial legislature's Special Committee on Poverty in PEI, following public hearings, issued a report in November 2020. The committee recommended that the provincial government pursue a full basic income program and seek to begin negotiations with the federal government to support this goal; if federal interest is insufficient it recommends that the PEI government pursue a basic income pilot instead.

* The B.C. government examined basic income in the context of its poverty reduction efforts. In January 2021, an expert panel issued a report and a set of research papers. The panel recommended that B.C. not introduce a basic income, or pursue a pilot project. Instead, it proposed 65 recommendations to improve the province's income and social support system. These recommendations include a targeted income support program for people with disabilities; changes to temporary income assistance to reduce the "welfare wall"; extended health benefits for all lower-income individuals; improved support for low-income renters; measures to support participation in the labour force; and improvements to benefit delivery platforms.

* In November 2017, a committee established by the then-government of Quebec recommended establishing a guaranteed minimum income. In May 2018, that government introduced a targeted income support program for persons with a severely limited capacity for employment.

* In November 2020, the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature passed a motion to establish an all-party committee to examine the concept of basic income.

* Yukon and Nunavut are taking steps towards completing research studies on basic income.

* The federal government has offered to share available data with provinces and territories interested in implementing BI pilots or programs within their jurisdictions, including tax, administrative, and survey data.

The new report on basic income from the Parliamentary Budget Officer
* On April 7, 2021, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) issued a report on the impact of basic income on poverty. Examining a hypothetical program modelled on Ontario's basic income pilot (described above) but with full-scale implementation across Canada, the report indicates that such a program would reduce the number of people in Canada in poverty by almost half (by 49.0 percent, using the Market Basket Measure (MBM) with the 2008-base of the measure).
* The report indicates that the redistributive effect of this basic income model, with a set of assumptions about the elimination of certain federal and provincial programs and measures to offset costs, would include a 17.5 percent increase in the average household income for the lowest-income quintile. There would be declines in average income for the three highest-income quintiles (because of the elimination of many refundable and non-refundable tax credits, a reduction in disposable income averaging below $2,000 per household). As well, the report indicates declines in income would occur for some households in the second quintile (even though the average household income for that quintile would rise slightly).
* While these effects may not align with efforts to prioritize the middle class, and show possible consequences of eliminating measures in conjunction with the introduction of a basic income, they are results of just one possible way of offsetting the costs - one the PBO analyses without taking a position on its merits. There is considerable potential for different program designs and approaches to offset costs of a basic income that would have different redistributive effects. For example, analysis by Basic Income Canada Network, briefly discussed below, features an approach in which declines in income are more concentrated among higher-income earners.
* The report projects that basic income would have only a small effect on incentives to work, from workers either working fewer hours or entirely withdrawing from the labour force. It projects a decrease in the labour supply with just a 1.3 percent decline in hours worked and a 0.5 percent reduction in total payroll. The PBO's analysis therefore supports existing research that indicates that basic income would not have significant or undue effects on workforce participation.
* The projected gross cost for the basic income in 2022-23 would be $87.6B, including the estimated impact of the change in labour supply ($3.1B to $3.3B per year between 2021-22 and 2025-26) and the cost of disability benefits ($3.5B to $3.9B billion per year during the same period).
* The PBO suggests that the cost could be offset by various program and tax changes. It tentatively puts forward a list of federal and provincial tax credits that could potentially be eliminated in conjunction with the introduction of a basic income (while anticipating compensation for resulting losses to children and seniors with separate transfers, to ensure a "net-zero change" for these groups). Examples of these measures include the basic personal exemption, disability and caregiver tax credits, sales tax credits, provincial medical expense tax credits, energy-related tax measures, and the Canada Workers Benefit.
* The PBO's report does not explore potential benefits or cost savings from tackling poverty, such as the impact on costs associated with health care and the criminal justice system.

The PBO's previous work on the cost of a national basic income
* In 2018, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimated the gross annual cost of a basic income modelled on Ontario's pilot project and implemented across Canada: $76B for the 2018-19 fiscal year. The PBO also calculated that $32B of existing federal support could be eliminated, leaving a net cost of $44B. As well, economist Evelyn Forget builds on the PBO's estimate and calculates that if provincial income assistance expenditures could be reallocated and directed towards basic income expenses, the annual cost of a BI program could be cut to $23B. In any case, to offset costs, a basic income would almost certainly require taxation changes and/or modification or elimination of some programs.

* In July 2020, the PBO issued a separate report, which estimated the gross cost of a BI program for six months, starting in October 2020, at $47.5B if designed following the model of the Ontario pilot. The PBO also showed that lower phase-out rates, with more generous treatment of earned income to reduce disincentives to work, would lead to substantially higher gross costs (potentially as high as $98.1B for six months).
Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) report
* In January 2020, BICN issued a report advocating the introduction of a basic income in Canada. The report proposed three options featuring benefits of $22,000 per year for individuals ($31,113 for couples in two cases), either targeted to Canadians with low incomes or universal with a significant portion of costs recovered through the tax system.

* BICN's report explains that each of the options could be paid for mainly through changes to the tax system, along with modifications to or elimination of certain existing federal and PT programs.
UBI Works report
* In December 2020, UBI Works, an organization that brings together businesspeople who advocate basic income, released a report on the economic impacts of basic income in Canada. The report provides analysis indicating that a basic income of $2000 for individuals (and a higher amount for couples) would not only dramatically reduce poverty, but would also contribute to increases in employment and the Gross Domestic Product.
Examples of basic income pilots and measures
* Governments in several other countries are in varying stages of experimentation with basic income projects. Basic income pilots and experiments are in various stages in a number of jurisdictions including the Netherlands, Germany, and American municipalities such as Stockton, California and Hudson, New York.

* In February 2019, the Government of Finland issued the preliminary evaluation of a two-year pilot project with 2,000 unemployed participants receiving monthly payments of €560 (about $840 Canadian). The evaluation showed that these payments contributed to the health and happiness of the beneficiaries; however, there was no positive or negative impact on the likelihood of recipients participating in the labour force. The final evaluation, issued in May 2020, showed largely consistent results; recipients had slightly higher workforce participation than members of the control group.

* Overall, other research and pilots, including a study in Manitoba in 1975-78, generally indicate that a well-designed basic income program would avoid undue work disincentives, address poverty, and promote health and well-being.

* Since 1982, Alaska has paid a partial basic income for all residents, usually about $1000 to $2000 U.S. per year. A campaign is underway in Oregon to hold a referendum that would establish a similar partial basic income.

* In 2020, Spain implemented a partial basic income-like program for lower-income households, with monthly benefits for eligible individuals of €462 (about $700 Canadian), and higher benefits for households.

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En vertu de la Loi sur l’accès à l’information, le gouvernement publie de façon proactive les notes pour la période des questions préparées par l’institution et en usage lors du dernier jour de séance de juin et de décembre. Les notes pour la période des questions peuvent être partiellement ou entièrement caviardées en vertu de la Loi; par exemple, si les notes contiennent des renseignements liés à la sécurité nationale ou des renseignements personnels.

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ARTICLE: Cost of Living in NS - June 11 2024 

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ARTICLE: Cost of Living in NS - June 11 2024 

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Nova Scotia ranks 3rd highest for the cost of living in Canada (based on Halifax costs)

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What is a livable wage in Nova Scotia?

How much you need to earn to live comfortably in Nova Scotia depends on where you live. For example, you need to earn more in Halifax, which is the capital of the province than in smaller places because your expenses in Halifax are greater.

To live comfortably in Nova Scotia, you need to earn between $22.85 - 26.50, which is less than you need in provinces such as British Columbia or Ontario. If we compare the monthly living cost without rent or mortgage for a family of four in Halifax, which is $5,029.50 to $5,569.30 in Toronto, and $5,766.50 in Vancouver, we can see that your wages will go further in Halifax than the other two cities. However, your monthly living costs in Halifax are higher than in Montreal where it is $4,938.30.

But as we will see when we look at the cost of living index and the local purchasing power towards the end of the article, it is not as simple as comparing the monthly living costs.

But before we look at the cost-of-living index and local purchasing power, we will look at the different things we spend money on, including transport, groceries, recreational activities, household bills and rent or mortgage. But first, we will look at how much income tax you will pay in Nova Scotia.

Taxes

One of the first things you need to do when you start working out how much money you will need to live comfortably in Nova Scotia is to take away your taxes from your monthly income.

Below you will see the income taxes in Nova Scotia in 2021.

If you have a taxable income that is $29,000 or less, then you will pay 8.79% income tax on that portion. When your income exceeds that amount, you will pay 14.95% on the portion of your taxable income that is more than $29,590, but not more than $59,180.

In the next bracket, which is on income above $59,180, but below $93,000, you will pay. 16.67%. Taxable income which is more than $93,000 but not more than $150,000 is taxed at 17.5%. And finally, if your income exceeds $150,000, you will be taxed 21% on the portion of your taxable income that is above it.

The above information on income taxes is from the website of the Government of Canada.

Accommodation

Whether you are looking to rent or buy, the cost of accommodation in Canada has risen significantly in recent years and Nova Scotia is no exception. However, the province is still among the cheapest provinces in the country and Halifax is a lot cheaper than some other major cities.

For example, let's compare the price of the average family home in Halifax to the same three cities we used above. In Halifax, the average price was $528,200 in October 2023, in Toronto it was $1,079,236, and in Vancouver $1,196,500. From that, we can clearly see how much further your money will go on the housing market in Halifax. However, the average price of a home is slightly more than in Montreal where the average house price is $516,000.

Average rents have gone up, too. In 2022, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $2,041, and for a one-bedroom $1,574. Compared to 2020, the average price rose over $160 in a year.

If we compare the rental prices of Halifax to those in Toronto and Vancouver, you can expect to pay about 70% less rent in Halifax. Montreal, once again, is only a little more expensive than Halifax.

Transport

When you are figuring out your monthly expenses, you need to include the cost of either public or private transport. Unless you walk or cycle everywhere and incur no costs.

Since data for other cities and towns in Nova Scotia is not as available, we will use Halifax as an example again. A single trip on public transport will cost you $2.75 in Halifax and a regular price monthly pass is $82.50. To fill up your car will cost you $1.69 per litre (December 2023).

Utilities

Another expense that needs to be included when working out monthly living costs is your utilities, including electricity, water and rubbish collection. The cost for these utilities combined for an 85m2 apartment is $273.69 per month. Having an internet connection at home will cost you a further $100.59 per month on average.

Groceries

The amount you will spend on food per month will depend on your diet and whether you prefer to cook, get take away or eat out. This is one area where Nova Scotia is dearer than other provinces such as Ontario or Quebec. One reason behind the higher cost is longer and more costly transport and another is the shorter growing season than in the more southern provinces.

Here are some price examples of what you can expect to spend in Halifax.

Hobbies and Entertainment

In this section, we have included prices for recreational activities such as going to the cinema, joining a gym or playing tennis for an hour during the weekend.

From the table above, we can see that the prices are very similar across all the four cities.

Childcare

If you have children, then you also need to account for the cost of childcare. Primary and secondary education are both free in Canada. However, if you wish to enter your child into a private primary school, then you would be looking at $16,000 per year for one child. The monthly cost of a private preschool place based on full day care is $732.22.

The prices for comparison in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are $1,659, $1,351 and $885.38 for preschool and $26,794, $25,561and $11,000 for private primary schools. From this, we can see that childcare and private education cost a lot less in Halifax than in Toronto or Vancouver.

Compared to Montreal, preschools are cheaper in Halifax, but private primary schools are more expensive.

Cost of Living Index

We can also compare the cost-of-living index of Halifax to other cities in the country. If you have not come across the cost-of-living index before, here is a brief explanation.

The cost-of-living index takes into account the different daily costs such as listed above and the average income to calculate an index, which is then compared to a baseline of one hundred. The further below the baseline, a country or a city is, the cheaper it is to live in. For Halifax, the index is 68.9, which is among the highest in Canada.

Local Purchasing Power

Finally, we can compare the rankings of different Canadian cities based on their local purchasing power. How is the local purchasing power calculated?

To work out how much the local purchasing power is, you need to take the average household incomes for the area and compare them to the cost of living. This will give you the local purchasing power result. In other words, it shows you the relative purchasing power when buying goods and services in a given location for the average wage in that location.

The results are then compared to a baseline, similarly to the cost-of-living index. However, instead of a baseline of one hundred, the results are compared to New York City. The results are read differently, too. Here, the lower numbers mean the less you can get with your salary.

Halifax has a purchasing power of 73.1. The cities with the lowest purchasing power in Canada are Victoria and Vancouver with 60.9 and 64.2 respectively. The highest purchasing power is in Windsor with 97.9 followed by London with 96.8.

In Conclusion

Nova Scotia is a beautiful place to live with stunning scenery and over 7,000 kilometres of coastline. It is a naturally beautiful province with sea, lakes, and forests. The space of life in Nova Scotia, even in its capital Halifax is slower than in more populated provinces.

It might not have the highest average salaries in Canada, nor the best purchasing power, but it still has one of the cheapest housing and rental markets in the country. The cost of private education is cheaper, too than in Ontario or British Columbia, so if you are a parent looking to get your child into a private school, then Nova Scotia is a good option.

We also need to remember that the figures such as the median household income are just that: a median. If you are highly skilled, you can earn above the median income and have more money left in your pocket after all your bills have gone out.

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Cost of Living in Nova Scotia | Made in CA

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Understand the cost of living in Nova Scotia, considering housing, lifestyle, and amenities in this lesser-known but charming Canadian province.

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REPORT: Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada - 2019 

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REPORT: Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada - 2019 

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ARTICLE: GBI: an evolution of our social support system, not a revolution. July 7 2024 

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ARTICLE: GBI: an evolution of our social support system, not a revolution. July 7 2024 

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"Report on Guaranteed Basic Income for PEI - a realistic and affordable way to eliminate poverty among working age Canadians"

Canada's income support programs focus on specific groups of people and needs, for example by age, health, and financial means. This approach was developed many years ago and was an important innovation in social benefits for Canadians. Governments at the time recognized the importance of helping the unemployed, under employed, or those who were simply unable to participate in the wage economy. Although there have been many innovations and improvements in income support programs over the years, poverty levels among working age Canadians remains stubbornly high. We propose that it is time for another innovation.

In November of 2020, the All Party Special Committee in PEI on Poverty tabled it's final report to the PEI Legislature with the recommendation that PEI reach out to the Federal Government with the goal of establishing a demonstration project for a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) in PEI. In November of 2023, a group of economists, federal and provincial politicians, and federal and provincial public servants published the report: A Proposal For A Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit in PEI. We contend that a multi-year GBI program in PEI is a practical and affordable way to demonstrate that a GBI for working age Canadians is a far superior way to eliminate poverty than the myriad of targeted, often dysfunctional social assistance schemes. We believe the program will demonstrate that a GBI gives low-income earners a dignified path to becoming more financially independent while improving health outcomes, increasing educational attainment, and reducing crime.

We know that there is considerable skepticism that a GBI would actually deliver the societal benefits its advocates believe it would, and even if that was possible, that a GBI could possibly be affordable.

The report shows that a GBI could easily be funded, delivered with little to no disruption of labour markets and that it's costs could be cut up to 40% by delivering it using the census family model.

We propose that a GBI be delivered through the federal tax system. It is more efficient, less costly, and encourages people to file their taxes, while keeping some Provincial support systems in place to deal with situations which can arise throughout the year.

Previous studies show that receiving a GBI would substantially improve the health, food security, and housing security of its recipients. It would reduce poverty-based crime. It would support those seeking gainful employment by giving them financial means to take time out for retraining.

A wealth of academic research points to GBI's benefits, but we need hard evidence and the demonstration project in PEI would give us that.

We recognize that many are doubtful of the merits and affordability of a GBI. We believe this demonstration project will address those concerns. Proposals for some type of GBI have come from every political party reaching back more than 50 years. It has been studied by a Royal Commission and piloted (but not long enough to have confidence in the positive results). There are several basic income type programs already in use by federal and provincial governments with impressive results. Rather than continuing to debate the possible merits and problems of a GBI, we ought to take concrete steps to gather the evidence. We believe that testing a GBI among working age PEI residents is a responsible and affordable way to recast Canada's income support programs for the future. Let's move forward.

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GBI: an evolution of our social support system, not a revolution.

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National Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views.

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REPORT: Better Supporting the Most Marginalized Nova Scotians - Jan 2024 

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REPORT: Better Supporting the Most Marginalized Nova Scotians - Jan 2024 

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In their January 2024 report, Better Supporting the Most Marginalized Nova Scotians, Maytree report (https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Better-supporting-the-most-marginalized-Nova-Scotians.pdf), Maytree recommends that the Nova Scotia government increase benefit amounts for people receiving Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA).

Rank of Nova Scotia welfare incomes relative to other provinces, 2022

Unattached singles considered employable: $9,493.00 welfare income (9th in Canada)

Unattached singles with a disability: $12,687 welfare income (9th in Canada)

Single parents with 1 child: $21,724 welfare income (9th in Canada)

Couples with 2 children: $33,449 welfare income (7th in Canada)

Market Basket Measure (MBM) Poverty Line 2022 for:

Unattached singles considered employable: $26,219. Welfare income is 36% of the MBM poverty line and $10,171 below the deep poverty line set at $19,664.

Unattached singles with a disability: $26,219. Welfare income is 48% of the MBM poverty line and $6,977 below the deep poverty line set at $19,664.

Single parents with 1 child: $37,074.  Welfare income is 58.6% of the MBM poverty line and $6,082 below the deep poverty line set at $27,806.

Couples with 2 children: $39,329. Welfare income is 75% of the MBM poverty line.

The Market Basket Measure (MBM) is Canada’s Official Poverty Line; the deep income poverty threshold is set at 75 per cent of the MBM. Since the MBM is regional, the threshold for Nova Scotia’s largest city, Halifax, is used

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Nova Scotia has the highest poverty rate of all 10 provinces in Canada regardless of age at 13.1% of the population. (Canadian Income Survey 2022.

·     Poverty rate for persons under 18 years: 14%

·     Poverty rate for persons aged 18-64 years: 13.8%

·     Poverty rate for persons aged 65 years and older: 10.4%

·     Poverty rate for elderly males not in an economic family: 25.7%

·     Poverty rate for elderly females not in an economic family: 25%

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For additional information relating to this article, please contact:

April 26, 2024
CANADIAN INCOME SURVEY: POVERTY, 2022
Statistics Canada has released results from the Canadian Income Survey, reporting on incomes for 2022. This includes food security, median incomes as well as Canada's official poverty rate, as assessed against the Market Basket Measure threshold.

Note that there were significant government income supports during the COVID-19 pandemic which drove a large decline in the poverty rates for 2020 and 2021. These supports were largely withdrawn by 2022 while there was a significant acceleration in inflation.

Poverty Rates

The Market Basket Measure (MBM) estimates the share of the population that do not have sufficient income for a reference family to afford the cost of a basket of essential goods and services. The MBM threshold is estimated for specific communities. In Nova Scotia, there are separate thresholds for MBM in Halifax, Cape Breton, communities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000, communities with populations under 30,000 and rural areas. The Market Basket has recently been updated to 2018, with historical estimates provided back to 2015. These data are collected through the Canadian Income Survey. Indicators of poverty and income for smaller sub-components of the population may be of limited data quality.

The poverty rate was 13.1% in Nova Scotia in 2022, up from 8.6% in 2021. This was the highest poverty rate among provinces - 1.5 percentage points above the next-highest poverty rate (11.6% in British Columbia). Nationally, 9.9% of the population were below the MBM poverty threshold. The lowest poverty rate was in Québec.

Poverty rates increased in all provinces from 2021 to 2022 as pandemic-related supports were withdrawn and inflation accelerated to levels not see in decades. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick reported the sharpest increases in poverty rates while Québec reported the least growth in poverty rate. With the most recent increases, poverty rates rose above pre-pandemic (2019) levels in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Alberta. 2022 poverty rates matched pre-pandemic levels in Ontario and Manitoba.

The number of Nova Scotians in poverty rose to 130,000 in 2022 - returning to figures last seen around 2018.

Persons in economic families (including both lone parents and the elderly) reported a poverty rate of 8.5% in Nova Scotia in 2022. This was above the national average of 6.6%. Manitoba reported the highest poverty rate among economic families while Québec reported the lowest.

The poverty rate for economic families increased in all provinces in 2022. Poverty rates for economic families remained below pre-pandemic levels in Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Poverty rates for couple families with children are typically lower than for other family cohorts. In Nova Scotia, 7.4% of couple families with children were below the MBM poverty line in 2022. This was above the national average of 6.3% (highest: Manitoba, lowest: Québec).

Data on poverty rates for couple families with children were missing for all Atlantic Canadian provinces in 2021 (with earlier data suppression in Québec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador for earlier years).

Poverty rates among couple families with children declined in many provinces after 2015, but have risen in more recent data.

Lone parent families have historically had higher poverty rates than for couple economic families. In Nova Scotia, 31.5% of those in lone parent families lived in poverty, above the national average of 22.6% for these families. Lone parent poverty was highest in Saskatchewan and lowest in Québec.

After much lower poverty rates among lone parent families in 2019, 2020 and 2021, Nova Scotia's lone parent poverty rate increased by 12.3 percentage points from 2021 to 2022. No other province reported as sharp an increase in poverty rates for lone parent families. Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick reported declines in lone parent poverty rates.

Persons not in economic families report the highest poverty rates. In 2022, 36.1% of Nova Scotians who were not in an economic family lived in poverty. This is above the national average. Persons not in economic families reported the highest poverty rates in Newfoundland and Labrador (followed by Nova Scotia) and the lowest poverty rates in Québec.

Nova Scotia's poverty rates for persons not in economic families increased for the first time since comparable records started in 2015. All provinces reported increases in poverty rates for persons not in an economic family from 2021 to 2022.

Persons in economic families (excl. lone parents) made up the largest number of persons in poverty in Nova Scotia, followed by non-elderly persons not in an economic family.

The average poverty gap reports the difference between the MBM threshold and family income, stated as a percentage of the threshold. For all Nova Scotians living in poverty in 2022, the gap was 30.8% of the MBM threshold, which was a smaller gap than the national average. The poverty gap ratio was smaller for lone parent families (28.2%) as well as for couples with children (24.0%). Non-elderly persons not in an economic family had both the highest poverty rates and poverty gap ratios.

Nova Scotia's average poverty gap ratios improved in 2022, reflecting gains for non-elderly persons not in an economic family.

The majority of those living in poverty in Nova Scotia are between the ages of 18 and 64 years old. This is the case across the country, where this age cohort is clearly the largest part of the population.

The child poverty rate in Nova Scotia was 14.0% in 2022 - the highest poverty rate for this age cohort. The national child poverty rate was 9.9% with the lowest prevalence in Québec.

Every province reported an increase in child poverty rates in 2022, but the increase in Nova Scotia was the most acute: more than doubling.

The poverty rate for those aged 18-64 was 13.8% in Nova Scotia, which was also the highest among provinces. The poverty rates for those aged 18-64 was 11.1% nationally with the lowest rate in Québec.

Poverty rates for those aged 18-64 increased in every province in 2022.

Nova Scotia's poverty rate among seniors was 10.4% - the highest rate among the provinces for this cohort. The national seniors poverty rate was 6.0% with the lowest value in Québec.

Seniors' poverty has increased in all provinces except Québec, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 2022. Nova Scotia reported a marked increase in the seniors poverty rate in 2021.

Among the population aged 65 and older, the number of Nova Scotians who live in poverty is highly concentrated among elderly persons not in an economic family. Of the 23,000 seniors in poverty in Nova Scotia, 15,000 of them were not in economic families, and of these a disproportionate number were women (10,000).

Poverty rates among elderly Nova Scotians not in an economic family were notably higher than for similar cohorts in other provinces, a phenomenon that emerged particularly in 2021 and continued in 2022.

The largest number of Nova Scotians living in poverty in 2022 were between the ages of 18 and 64: 83,000. There were about the same number of children (24,000) as seniors (23,000) living in poverty in Nova Scotia in 2022.

There were more females (67,000) than males (63,000) in poverty in Nova Scotia in 2022. In most provinces (Québec and Saskatchewan excepted), females make up a larger portion of those living in poverty.

The male poverty rate was 13.0% in Nova Scotia in 2022 - highest among provinces. The male poverty rate was 9.9% nationally with the lowest prevalence in Québec.

Male poverty rates increased for all provinces in 2022, though the increases were faster in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The female poverty rate was 13.2% in Nova Scotia in 2022, the highest female poverty rate among provinces. The national female poverty rate was 10.0% in 2022, with the the lowest female poverty rate in Québec.

Female poverty rates rose in all provinces in 2022, with faster increases in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The poverty rate among Nova Scotia males in economic families was 8.4% in 2022 - the highest rate for this cohort among provinces. Nationally, males in economic families had a poverty rate of 6.3% with the lowest prevalence in Québec.

Poverty rates for males in economic families were up in every province in 2022.

The poverty rate for females in an economic family in Nova Scotia was 8.7% in 2022 - second highest among provinces after Manitoba. Nationally, the poverty rate for females in an economic family was 6.9% with the lowest value in Québec.

Poverty rates for females in economic families increased in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador in 2022.

Nova Scotia's poverty rate for males not in an economic family was substantially higher at 33.8% in 2022.

Poverty rates for males not in an economic family increased in every province except Alberta.

Nova Scotia's poverty rate for females not in an economic family was 31.6% in 2022 - the highest among provinces. Nationally, females not in an economic family had a poverty rate of 24.8% with the lowest value in Québec.

Poverty rates for females not in an economic family increased in every province except Québec in 2022.

The number of females in poverty outnumbered males in poverty by 4,000.

Statistics Canada's reported poverty rates now include categories for racialized persons (defined as identifying with 'visible minority' populations).

Poverty rates among those who identify with a visible minority category were substantially higher in Nova Scotia (20.6%) than for those who identified neither as Indigenous nor as a visible minority (11.9%). Visible minority populations reported higher poverty rates in all provinces. The largest gaps between the poverty rates for visible minority populations and those who identified neither as Indigenous nor as a visible minority were reported in Atlantic Canada (particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador).

The threshold for the poverty rate varies by province and community size. In Nova Scotia, the income required for a reference family (2 adults, 2 children) to afford a basic standard of living ranged from $48,287 in Cape Breton RM to $52,439 in Halifax. The highest thresholds were reported in larger cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa. The lowest thresholds were in smaller communities of Québec.

Compared with the thresholds from 2021, Nova Scotia's Market Basket Measure threholds increased by between 8.65% and 8.84%. MBM threshold levels grew faster in the Maritime Provinces and Manitoba.

Notes and definitions

The Canadian Income Survey estimates are based on probability samples and are therefore subject to sampling variability. As a result, estimates will show more variability than trends observed over longer time periods.

The market basket measure (MBM) of poverty is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the costs of food, clothing, footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses for a reference family. These costs are compared with the disposable income of families to determine whether or not they fall below the poverty line.

An economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship. This concept differs from the census family concept used for subprovincial data in the Annual Income Estimates for Census Families and Individuals.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey. Table 11-10-0135-01 Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type; Table 11-10-0136-01 Low income statistics by economic family type; Table 11-10-0093-01 Poverty and low-income statistics by selected demographic characteristics

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Nova Scotia Department of Finance - Statistics

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The Nova Scotia Department of Finance oversees revenues that make up the majority of the province's fiscal resources

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NEWS: Nova Scotia saw alarming increase in poverty and food insecurity-some of the highest in the country - April 29 2024 

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NEWS: Nova Scotia saw alarming increase in poverty and food insecurity-some of the highest in the country - April 29 2024 

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Food insecurity for Nova Scotians is the highest in the country.

28.9% of Nova Scotians are food insecure with 7.3% of people missing meals, reducing intake or going day(s) without food.  About 15.4% said they compromised on quality or quantity of food while 6.1% worry about running out of food.

Single-parent families have the highest rate of food insecurity with 57.1%.

Child food insecurity increased from 31.4% in 2021 to 40.5% — a 29% increase in a year.

Food insecurity is 37.5% among racialized households compared to non-racialized at 26.8%.

The cost of food for a family of four in 2023 was considerably higher at $1,343 per month or $16,120 annually.  (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Nova Scotia,

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Halifax/Kjipuktuk - Statistics Canada just released the most recent poverty and food insecurity data for 2022 and Nova Scotia's rates are alarming. Some of the highlights from the data (using the Market Basket Measure and the Canadian Income Survey) include:

Poverty:

Nova Scotia's poverty rate increased by 52% between 2021 and 2022 (from 8.6% to 13.1%). This is the highest in the country, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in Nova Scotia.

Lone parent families in Nova Scotia (non-elderly) saw a 64% in their poverty rate, the sharpest increase for those families in Canada, which is now 31.5% in Nova Scotia (up from 19.2%).

Nova Scotia's child poverty rate was 14.1%, the highest in the country, well above the national average of 9.9%, surpassing 2019 levels.

Nova Scotia also has the highest poverty rate in Canada for persons aged 18-64, at 13.8%.

Nova Scotia has the highest rate of poverty for persons aged 65 years and older (10.4%). The increase in elderly poverty is very concerning, reaching levels not seen since 2015. Of note, most of those seniors living in poverty were living alone and disproportionately women.

The highest poverty rate in Nova Scotia is for males not in economic families at 33.8% (the highest in the country) compared to 31.6% for women (also the highest in the country).

In terms of the number of people living in poverty, 83,000 were between the ages of 18 and 64, 24,000 were children, and 23,000 were seniors.

Nova Scotia has the second highest poverty rate for racialized people at 20.6% compared to 8.6% for nonracialized, a rate that is more than double.

Food Security:

28.9% of Nova Scotia are food insecure, which is the highest in the country, with 7.3% missing meals, reducing intake, going day(s) without food (severe food insecurity); 15.4% reporting they compromise on the quality or quantity of food they consume (moderate food insecurity); and 6.1% worry about running out of food and/or have a limited selection (marginal food insecurity).

The highest rate of food insecurity by family type for lone parent families at 57.1%.

The highest rate of food insecurity by age is for children (under 18) at 40.5% up from 31.4 in 2021 - a 29% increase in one year.

Food insecurity is 37.5% among racialized households compared to non-racialized at 26.8%.

Sheri Lecker, Executive Director of Adsum, reacted to the data as follows: "This data confirms what we have been seeing for the past two years. Alarmingly, increasing numbers of individuals and families have been turning to us for support with not only housing but also food and other essentials. Across every province, Nova Scotia is doing the worst job providing the bare essentials for its citizens. The statistics are cause for shame. We are failing tens of thousands of Nova Scotians right across the lifespan- children, families, adults, seniors. These statistics are from 2022 and we know that things have continued to deteriorate in this province. We know the solutions. It is in their power and it's the mandate of the Province of Nova Scotia to act."

Christine Saulnier, Director of CCPA-NS, said this, "We anticipated that the 2022 data would show an increase in poverty, given that the last of the pandemic support had been withdrawn and inflation had significantly increased. Seeing a 52% increase should be the wake-up call needed for the Nova Scotia government to understand just how many people are falling through the gaps in our social safety net. The increased cost of housing, food and other essentials, plus the lack of additional income support and lack of living wages, means thousands more Nova Scotians are struggling. Lifting people out of poverty can be done, we saw it during the height of the pandemic."

Lesley Frank, Canada Research Chair in Food, Health, and Social Justice at Acadia University and CCPA-NS Research Associate, said, "This data reports that Nova Scotia has the highest rate of food insecurity in Canada and the highest on record in the 10 provinces. Most alarming, more than 1 in 3 Nova Scotian children lived in food insecure households in 2022 - the highest we have ever seen. Food insecurity in childhood is linked to a host of negative outcomes for children - across their development, and their physical and mental health as they age into adulthood. This problem will not be solved by food school lunches or emergency food offerings. Families need economic protections now so our children and our society can thrive."

-30-

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Christine Saulnier, at 902-240-0926 (cell) or
Data notes: This data is from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) and thus is based on probability sampling and excludes those people living on reserves and living in communal living. The Child Poverty Report Card reports child poverty and childhood food insecurity data - however, it relies more heavily on tax filer data and the census to report disaggregated child poverty as both include near-population level coverage. The thresholds for the Market Basket Measure for a family of four in 2022: $52,439 in Halifax, $48,287 in Cape Breton; For an individual: $26,291. and $24,143. The poverty threshold increased by 8.74% in Cape Breton and 8.65% in Halifax.
The statistics division of the NS Department of Finance has all the details for NS here:

https://www.novascotia.ca/finance/statistics/news.asp?id=19865 (Poverty)

https://www.novascotia.ca/finance/statistics/news.asp?id=19863 (Food Security)
The CCPA-NS is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with social and economic justice issues and environmental sustainability.

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Press Release: Nova Scotia saw alarming increase in poverty and food insecurity-some of the highest in the country

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Halifax/Kjipuktuk&nbsp;- Statistics Canada just released the most recent poverty and food insecurity data for 2022 and Nova Scotia's rates are alarming. Some of the highlights from the data (using the

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ADVOCACY: Livable Basic Income Guarantee Municipal Advocacy  CHECKLIST

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ADVOCACY: Livable Basic Income Guarantee Municipal Advocacy  CHECKLIST

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NEWS: Poverty, mental health keeping secondary students out of Cape Breton-Victoria schools - June 24 2024

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NEWS: Poverty, mental health keeping secondary students out of Cape Breton-Victoria schools - June 24 2024

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Nova Scotia teachers, principals and education officials are trying a variety of ways to get kids back into class after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-school learning and cut attendance rates across the country.

In the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, an average of one in five high school students is absent on any given day.

While the numbers have improved every year since facilities shut during the 2020 lockdown, progress has been slow and Cape Breton-Victoria's absenteeism rate is the highest of any region in the province.

Marlene Urquhart, principal of Riverview High School in Coxheath, said one reason is young people experiencing anxiety about crowded social settings.

Poverty is also a significant factor, with some students choosing to work instead of coming to class, she said.

"COVID's been really difficult and I don't know if we realize how difficult it has been on kids," Urquhart said. "I think now absenteeism has become normalized, I guess. [That's] not good or bad. People are just trying to survive and sometimes it's just, they have to do what they have to do."

The province has hired extra staff, including student attendance specialists and "alternate education" teachers to help schools reach out to students and their families with the aim of getting as many as possible back in class.

Urquhart said that means finding the individual reasons kids are not in school and coming up with creative ways to get them back in class.

It could even mean speaking with medical professionals and social workers.

Glace Bay High principal Tanya Jamieson said in one case, she spoke with a Grade 9 student who was chronically absent and found out they had been staying home to look after siblings.

"They're stepping up to the plate when maybe they're just really too young to be doing so, and then trying to navigate school," Jamieson said.

For many students though, the pandemic's disruption of schooling eased their social anxiety and they are pushing to continue with virtual learning so they don't have to come back to class.

"That's what they're finding the hardest to do right now, is to come to school, to be in a classroom, to navigate crowded hallways," Jamieson said.

"That social piece that's so important is what a lot of them are struggling with."

Chronic absenteeism nationwide

A nationwide CBC News analysis of school attendance rates this spring found that students in the Halifax region, like many across the country, have been chronically absent since the pandemic, meaning more than 10 per cent of the student body is not in school.

Nationally, the numbers were worse for elementary and middle school students. But in Nova Scotia, those age groups are doing much better than the older students.

New provincial data from the Education Department show Halifax region attendance dropped from 92 per cent before the pandemic to about 85 per cent the following year.

Earlier this month, that number had bounced back up to nearly 87 per cent.

Absenteeism in the conseil scolaire acadien provincial has never been chronic. On average, nearly 95 per cent of CSAP students were in school before the pandemic. That dropped to just over 90 per cent last year and has increased to nearly 93 per cent this year.

Data from the Cape Breton-Victoria region show that attendance dropped to 78 per cent in 2021, increased to 79 per cent the following year and as of last month, reached 81 per cent, meaning nearly 20 per cent of students are not in school.

Urquhart said those numbers should be better.

"We're not happy with 20 per cent, but we have to be happy with the improvement since COVID," she said.

Urquhart and Jamieson said students are logging more sick days now than they were before the pandemic, but so far, absenteeism has rarely resulted in loss of credit or affected graduation rates.

Riverview has even begun "buying back" absences from some students who need an incentive to get back into class, Urquhart said.

The student and parents sign a contract with the school and if the student's attendance rate improves to a certain level, some absences are taken off the books.

"We'll do anything, really, to keep them in [school] and I'm not sure if people realize the work that schools do every day to keep our kids in," Urquhart said.

"Do we get it right all the time? No, we don't, but we're really flexible and we really talk to each other about, how do we do this?"

Weather events haven't helped

Riverview has nearly 1,000 students, with 300 on individual plans aimed at keeping them in school.

Both principals said weather events have not helped since the pandemic. Hurricane Fiona in 2022 and a major snow storm earlier this year both disrupted classes, setting back efforts to keep kids in school.

"I find that the continuity for kids, we get them going and then something stops and we have to re-engage everybody again," Urquhart said.

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Poverty, mental health keeping secondary students out of Cape Breton-Victoria schools | CBC News

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Efforts to improve absenteeism rates in Cape Breton-Victoria region high schools are having some effect but progress has been slow, according to school principals in the area.

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NEWS: 'Historic' single-year spike in N.S. child poverty between 2020 and 2021. - Jan 31 2024 

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NEWS: 'Historic' single-year spike in N.S. child poverty between 2020 and 2021. - Jan 31 2024 

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A new report says child poverty in Nova Scotia spiked when governments ended their pandemic-related financial assistance.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report this week that says Nova Scotia's child poverty rate rose to 20.5 per cent in 2021, which represents about 35,330 children in the province.

In 2020, when COVID-19 first hit Canada, Nova Scotia's child poverty rate fell to 18.4 per cent - a significant drop from 24.3 per cent a year earlier. In 2021, Nova Scotia had the fourth-highest child poverty rate in Canada, and the highest rate in Atlantic Canada.

"The big takeaway here is that government transfers really work, and when we remove them, people fall into poverty," said Christine Saulnier, the Nova Scotia director of the centre.

Saulnier said the jump in Nova Scotia's child poverty rate between 2020 and 2021 represents the biggest single-year increase since at least 1989.

This study, which uses Statistics Canada data to identify children living in low-income families, makes it clear that giving money directly to those families during the pandemic lifted many children out of poverty, Saulnier said.

Without help, child poverty rate expected to rise

"We had the highest single-year decrease in poverty in 2020 during the pandemic, during economic shutdown, when we would have anticipated that poverty would have increased," Saulnier said.

The centre reported last year that an additional 14,500 Nova Scotian children would have been under the poverty line in 2020 if their families had not received pandemic government benefits, including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and Canada Recovery Benefit. More than 569,000 Nova Scotians received some form of pandemic financial relief that year.

"Then you remove almost all of those temporary supports, don't increase income assistance, it's not surprising [that child poverty goes up]," Saulnier said.

Without substantial government income assistance that keeps up with the rising cost of living, she said the rate of child poverty is expected to continue to rise.

JoAnna LaTulippe-Rochon, executive director at Cape Breton's Family Place Resource Centre, said she's seeing more families with young children struggle to meet their basic needs.

"And we're seeing it with our littlest ones, the infants who are formula-fed, not having access to the formula that best suits them. We see this facing our youngest children," LaTulippe-Rochon said in an interview Wednesday.

Hard to make money last

Some parents say they're skipping meals in order to feed their children due to the rising cost of food, and many report that they can't afford to adequately heat their homes. The report found that Cape Breton's child poverty rate was 27.6 per cent in 2021, well above the provincial average.

LaTulippe-Rochon said people on monthly income support have always had a hard time making it through to the end of the month. "But what I'm really noticing now is the money is hardly reaching into the middle of the month," she said.

Premier Tim Houston this week defended his government's choice to address poverty using "targeted supports as opposed to blanket supports."

"We know that people are struggling, and we'll look for ways to help through the budget that will be coming shortly," the premier said Tuesday in response to reporters' questions about a recent United Way Halifax report that said Nova Scotia has the highest rate of poverty in the country.

When asked if the province intends to increase income assistance rates, a Department of Community Services spokesperson said they cannot comment on the budget process that's underway.

"We have taken action and made a number of investments to target the underlying issues that lead to child poverty," Christina Deveau said in an email Wednesday, noting that the government has increased payments under the Nova Scotia child benefit, reduced child-care fees, and expanded youth outreach services.

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'Historic' single-year spike in N.S. child poverty between 2020 and 2021: report | CBC News

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The report, released this week by the think-tank Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says 35,330 kids in Nova Scotia experienced poverty in 2021, or 20.5 per cent. That's up from 18.4 per cent in 2020.

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ARTICLE: Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition - Jan 10 2024

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ARTICLE: Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition - Jan 10 2024

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In December 2023, Efficiency One published their report, Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition to a Net-Zero Carbon Future in Nova Scotia.

To read the full paper as a PDF, click here: Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition

To read the full paper on the Efficiency One website, click here: Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition (web)

Notably, 9 of the 10 communities experiencing the worst energy povety in Nova Scotia are in Cape Breton.

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In December 2023, Efficiency One published their report, Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition to a Net-Zero Carbon Future in Nova Scotia. New Dawn was honoured to be a "Voice from the Community" in the report.

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Energy Poverty and an Equitable Transition - New Dawn Enterprises

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Our mission is to engage the community to create and support a culture of self-reliance.

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DATABASE: Home Heat Cost Comparison for NS - 2023 

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DATABASE: Home Heat Cost Comparison for NS - 2023 

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Cost of Heat (4 person, 1,700 square foot home) (Efficiency Nova Scotia:

Electric heat with Air source heat pump:  $1,870 annually

Electric heat with Baseboard heaters: $3,553 annually

Oil heat with new furnace: $3,973 annually

Oil heat with old furnace: $4,825 annually

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Average single family residence (1,700 square feet, 4 people)

Knowing your options will help you decide on the best fuel source for your home. These charts provide side-by-side comparisons of annual heating costs as well as the associated greenhouse gas emissions for some of the most common heating types.

*Wood and pellet biomass fuels are essentially carbon neutral, however do have other air pollutants (ex. particulate matter) not considered here.

**For comparison purposes only. Costs above assume the entire home is heated with the indicated system for a full heating season. In most cases fireplaces and stoves only provide supplemental heat to another heating system. For greater accuracy, please contact your supplier or contractor.

For more detailed information, view our home heating comparison spreadsheet.

*Pricing may vary based on how much you use. For greater accuracy, please contact your supplier or contractor.

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Home Heating Cost Comparison for Nova Scotia

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Compare different types of home heating, and find the best solution for you and your family. Rebates available from Efficiency Nova Scotia.

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ADVOCACY: Livable Basic Income Guarantee Municipal Advocacy Toolkit Nova Scotia

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ADVOCACY: Livable Basic Income Guarantee Municipal Advocacy Toolkit Nova Scotia

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NEWS: Despite grim Canadian poverty report, Cape Breton aid groups say help is available - July 1 2024

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NEWS: Despite grim Canadian poverty report, Cape Breton aid groups say help is available - July 1 2024

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GLACE BAY — At the Glace Bay Food Bank, a normal lineup has stretched further out the door to Hector Street in just months.

It’s not a problem meeting that demand, said director Linda McRae. The food bank has adapted to serve the minimum 80 customers it sees daily, thanks to an influx of donations and volunteers.

However, in its 40th year, this is the busiest the food bank has ever been. And as McRae said, it’s evident more people than ever need help, not only for food but also several needs.

“God love them, they’re trying. But between rent and life things, they can’t do it,” said McRae. “We see people now who haven’t been here in many years.

“They’re starting to come back.”

Now, a new Food Banks Canada report suggests the level of poverty across the country could be higher than other figures have shown since the ongoing cost of living crisis has emerged.

It’s especially a concern in Glace Bay and Cape Breton — two areas that have historically had lower income levels and higher poverty rates than the rest of Nova Scotia.

McRae believes the overall situation in Cape Breton is worse than the findings in the Food Banks Canada report. In Glace Bay alone, between April 2023 and May 2024, meals served annually have gone up from 12,499 to 16,639.

“To be up over 4,140 meals in a community this size, that’s substantial,” said McRae.

Material deprivation index

So, why is this report so noteworthy? For starters, it’s a Food Banks Canada report that isn’t focused on just food.

It uses a different measurement: the material deprivation index (MDI). As opposed to other rulers such as one’s level of income, the MDI reflects how many people don’t have essential household goods such as food, heating or clothing.

“If we just look at income levels alone, that doesn’t tell the whole story about people who are living in poverty. What MDI does is take into account household financial obligations,” Nick Jennery, the executive director of Feed Nova Scotia, explained to the Cape Breton Post.

“It talks about an acceptable standard of, ‘Everybody should be able to heat and cool their home,’ or buy winter boots for your kids.”

From 11 “items” used in the report, a quarter of the roughly 2,000 study respondents said they were deprived of two or more of them. The report stated this two-item threshold indicates a poverty-level standard of living.

Of the Atlantic Canadian respondents, 27.1 per cent said they are in that two-or-more-item class, while almost 20 per cent of them were missing at least three items.

Needs ‘some special attention’

Jennery said reports like this paint a more accurate picture of local poverty situations and something governments should recognize as a first step to solving the problems.

“Poverty is understated because it just looks at income levels,” he said, calling food insecurity the “bar-none” biggest crisis in Nova Scotia right now, especially so in Cape Breton.

“Cape Breton does need some special attention and help.”

The island has long been among the lowest-earning regions in Nova Scotia and, as the Post reported in December, has amongst the highest poverty rates in the region.

The executive director of United Way Cape Breton, an organization that offers community services and fundraising, said this material deprivation in Cape Breton shows itself in many ways from buying food and beyond.

One example Lynne McCarron gave is the fact children learn better if they have breakfast. But for those who can’t afford food, the impact can snowball into struggles in school and a harder time working their way out of poverty.

“Before, it was the difference of choosing between needs and wants. And I think now, we’re choosing among the needs,” McCarron said.

Another example she gave was women and girls who can’t afford menstrual products, which can be a barrier preventing them from attending work or school.

“Those are the kinds of things you’re going without,” she said.

Efforts to help

However, McCarron said there are reasons to be optimistic for things to get better soon, based on the report and local efforts to assist people.

On United Way’s part, one of its efforts has been helping people work or earn an education remotely. That way, people brushing the poverty line could worry less about transportation or childcare costs that come with having to work away.

McCarron said these solutions are long-term initiatives to fight poverty.

“I always say, if you give me a plan, I’ll find you the money,” she said. “Because there’s always a foundation, corporate donor, individual donor or government agency that is willing to take a risk on an opportunity to move forward.”

Back at the Glace Bay Food Bank, McRae said it's a priority for local groups to work together to feed and assist those in need. There’s a long way to go, but she’s proud of what the food bank and others locally such as the Salvation Army have been able to do.

“When we have those conversations,” she said, “it makes us feel stronger and at least, we know that we’re doing what we can do.”

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NEWS: Information Morning - Cape Breton with Steve Sutherland:  Senator pushes for guaranteed annual income - Sept 12, 2023

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NEWS: Information Morning - Cape Breton with Steve Sutherland:  Senator pushes for guaranteed annual income - Sept 12, 2023

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Senator pushes for guaranteed annual income

Senator Kim Pate talks about legislation that could lead to the creation of a Basic Minimum Income for Canada.

More from Information Morning - Cape Breton

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Senator pushes for guaranteed annual income | Information Morning - Cape Breton with Steve Sutherland | Live Radio | CBC Listen

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Senator Kim Pate talks about legislation that could lead to the creation of a Basic Minimum Income for Canada.

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NEWS: MIKE KELLOWAY: Time to implement Guaranteed Basic Income policy is now - May 7 2021

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NEWS: MIKE KELLOWAY: Time to implement Guaranteed Basic Income policy is now - May 7 2021

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Since March 2020, COVID-19 has presented us with a major global, national and local crisis. In Cape Breton-Canso and across Canada, we have endured this crisis with courage, creativity, resiliency and strength; thanks to the power of community and leadership.

COVID-19, however, isn't just a disease that attacks an individual. It affects entire communities and lays bare other equally dangerous problems in our society. Sustained poverty, a lack of basic living requirements, a lack of access to mental health supports, and the disparity between communities has become more prevalent than ever before.

Now is the time that we need to take action and to face these long-standing inequities and social pains. We need to demonstrate the same levels of passion, creativity and collaboration that we have seen put to work against COVID-19. We’ve seen how powerful our collective efforts can be.

Multiple sectors of the economy have joined forces. The various levels of government have proven they can work across jurisdictions and party lines in response to this problem. We must continue to work together. But it's not a time for hesitation. The unfortunate reality of the economic aftermath of this pandemic will not be pleasant. We don’t have the luxury to wait another day. The time is now.

COLLABORATION NEEDED

I have met with many groups who are proponents of a basic income from the riding, across the province and even national experts to do a deeper analysis on basic income and what it would mean for Canadians. I’ve also heard from constituents and stakeholders from Glace Bay to Guysborough County, which is why I am championing the creation and implementation of a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) in the Atlantic Region and across our country.

To do this, we need to see collaboration. Collaboration from community organizations like non-profits, Chambers of Commerce, social enterprises and leaders from varying sectors, from all levels of governments, across all party lines, and most importantly, collaboration from each of our diverse communities.

A Guaranteed Basic Income is a minimum income for all members of our community. Meaning those whose income is below the cost of living, are afforded this support measure to establish equity in our communities. In pilot projects over the past four decades, these projects have discovered that a GBI could achieve significant benefits for all members of our community.

NUMEROUS BENEFITS

Studies have suggested that a Guaranteed Basic Income can lead to:

* Improved mental and physical health

* A decrease in healthcare costs

* A decrease in the use of social service providers for those in crisis

* A decline in crime rates

* Increase of students graduating at higher levels

* Increase in those looking for meaningful work opportunities rather than giving up on finding work.

These are just some of the many benefits of pro-active and socially-just investments by the government. Not only would smart investments like this save money in the long run, but would ultimately lead to a much healthier, safer, prosperous and more equal society. One that is inclusive of the needs of those who often feel as though they are being left behind.

COVID-19 has taken away so many things, but it has shown us that when we face a dangerous enemy, we can stand together, we can be creative, and we can beat it- no matter how frightening the enemy is. It doesn’t matter if that enemy is the coronavirus or a system that prevents a single mother from being able to provide for her children, if we roll up our sleeves, get creative and get to work, we will come out on top.

Mike Kelloway is MP for Cape Breton-Canso.

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MIKE KELLOWAY: Time to implement Guaranteed Basic Income policy is now | SaltWire

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Since March 2020, COVID-19 has presented us with a major global, national and local crisis. In Cape Breton-Canso and across Canada, we have endured this…

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REPORT: Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget

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REPORT: Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget

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NEWS: Municipalities call on province, Ottawa to consider basic income guarantee - April 24 2023 

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NEWS: Municipalities call on province, Ottawa to consider basic income guarantee - April 24 2023 

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When he was an MP in Ottawa, Mike Savage was vice-chair of a committee that studied poverty. After travelling the country to meet with organizations and people with lived experience, one of the recommendations was for the government of the day to consider a basic income guarantee.

Years removed from his time in Ottawa and now occupying the mayor's office in Halifax Regional Municipality, Savage finds himself in familiar territory: he's one of several mayors and wardens in the province to recently write to Ottawa and the provincial government calling on them to pursue the idea.

"I just believe that, as a society, we've spent decades if not centuries managing poverty instead of trying to get rid of poverty," he said in a recent interview.

"And this, to me, is the way to do it."

Although there are variations on the idea, the general approach of a basic income guarantee is that it would provide enough money to bring everyone to at least what is considered the poverty line.

Alex Morrison, warden of the Municipality of the County of Annapolis, said the concept is "in line with Canada."

To Morrison, a basic income guarantee is no different than programs such as the Canada child benefit for families, employment insurance, and the guaranteed income supplement and old age security programs for seniors.

"It's in keeping with the Canadian approach to making sure that our citizens are treated well," he said in an interview.

For Savage and Morrison, as well as representatives for the Town of Wolfville and Municipality of the County of Pictou, the decision to advocate for a basic income guarantee is also a reflection of the fact that they see increasing evidence of poverty in their respective communities and are limited in terms of their ability to respond by both finances and jurisdiction.

Such a program would not be cheap.

Cost could be offset by other savings, tax changes

A recent estimate by the parliamentary budget officer estimated a basic income guarantee could cost upwards of $90 billion.

But Mandy Kay-Raining Bird, chair of Basic Income Nova Scotia, said there are ways to offset those costs and help pay for the program.

Kay-Raining Bird said previous pilot programs have shown that ensuring people have enough money to live reduces their reliance on the health-care system and interactions with the justice system, both of which would produce savings for governments.

The program could also be opportunities to reduce or collapse some existing supports into the basic income guarantee, she said. But along with efficiencies, Kay-Raining Bird said she thinks it is also time to reexamine the federal tax system.

"I think there's evidence to show that our taxation system has become less equitable over the past number of decades," she said in an interview.

"People who are wealthy could take on a larger share, large corporations could take on a larger share."

Despite the lobby effort by municipalities and advocacy groups, for now it appears the idea will not get the endorsement of the Nova Scotia government.

In an email, spokesperson Leanne Strathdee-Dowling said that several years ago officials in the Community Services Department sought input from advocacy groups, organizations, clients and staff.

No plans by N.S. govt for basic income guarantee

"From those conversations, the department determined that a standard household rate for people on income assistance is the best and most sustainable option for Nova Scotia," she said.

"A guaranteed basic income is not something under consideration at this time."

The Tory budget that passed earlier this month froze income assistance rates for the second consecutive year.

The Tories have pointed to increases in various targeted programs for seniors and families as ways they are helping vulnerable groups.

However, the majority of income assistance clients are single people and do not have children. As well, seniors do not qualify for income assistance.

A spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said in an emailed statement that income security is a shared responsibility and federal officials recognize the importance of working with provinces and territories to find solutions.

"Moreover, if a provincial or territorial government decides to proceed with a basic income pilot, ESDC would be pleased to share federal-level administrative, survey, and tax data that could support program design and evaluation," Cristina Bianchi said in an email.

Kay-Raining Bird said a recent study pegged the cost of poverty in Atlantic Canada at about $4.5 billion a year. That means governments have a choice, she said.

"By allowing poverty to continue to exist, we choose to take on those costs. We could instead choose wellbeing and the elimination of poverty with a basic income."
MORE TOP STORIES

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Municipalities call on province, Ottawa to consider basic income guarantee | CBC News

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Some Nova Scotia municipalities are lobbying the provincial and federal governments to examine introducing a basic income guarantee.

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REPORT: The Case for Basic Income & Municipalities - 2023 

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REPORT: The Case for Basic Income & Municipalities - 2023 

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ARTICLE: The Case for Basic Income and Municipalities - Feb 2022

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ARTICLE: The Case for Basic Income and Municipalities - Feb 2022

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INFOGRAPH: 7 Big City Mayors, 1 Great Idea

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INFOGRAPH: 7 Big City Mayors, 1 Great Idea

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1-page PDF highlighting recent expressions of support for basic income from the mayors of six of Canada's capital cities plus Mayor Nenshi of Calgary (download and rotate the document for ease of viewing)

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NEWS (AUDIO): This economist thinks a basic income guarantee could - and should - work for PEI - June 2024 

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NEWS (AUDIO): This economist thinks a basic income guarantee could - and should - work for PEI - June 2024 

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This economist thinks a basic income guarantee could - and should - work for P.E.I.

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The idea of the province offering Islanders a guaranteed basic income has been talked about for years. Lately, there have been some tangible efforts to make it a reality. One group that studied the idea presented its proposal to a government committee this week.

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What is basic income?

Doesn’t Canada already help everyone in some way?

How does a basic income guarantee make a difference?

Surely a basic income guarantee can’t solve everything?

If everyone has access to basic income, why would anyone work?

How much will it cost?

How will it work?

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First, it's relatively simple. With the security of a regular, direct basic income, all Canadians are free to manage their own and their family's unique circumstances much faster and more effectively than any bureaucracy can. Women and men can better rebound from financial setbacks, balance shifting employment and family care needs, protect their health and recover from illness or injury. Parents can save and plan a better future for their children. Adults can take positive steps like getting more education, retraining or trying a job in an emerging sector of the economy, without the fear and real risk of losing almost everything if it doesn't work out.

Second, it prevents poverty. That means many expensive and often long-term consequences of poverty are avoided such as poorer health, lower success rates in school, higher crime rates.

Third, a BIG doesn't just help individual recipients - it has a larger impact because it reduces excessive inequalities and human insecurities that are at the root of many societal problems. It fosters resilience and flexibility in a changing economy. It's good for cities struggling to create vibrant neighbourhoods and strong communities. It's good for democracy because as much as voting in elections matters, in our monetized society we vote every day with our dollars for the kind of life we want, a vote that increasingly excludes many Canadians.

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We invite you to join and support the movement for a Basic Income Guarantee for all.

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NEWS: N.L. launching disability benefit to top up federal program and create basic income June 7 2024 

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NEWS: N.L. launching disability benefit to top up federal program and create basic income June 7 2024 

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N.L. launching disability benefit to top up federal program and create basic income

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The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is launching a disability benefit that will top up the federal government's recently announced aid program.

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ADVOCACY: UBI will send letter to municipal councilors on your behalf 

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ADVOCACY: UBI will send letter to municipal councilors on your behalf 

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Tell your Mayor & Councillors: Push the Province & Feds for Basic Income

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INFOGRAPH: The Connection Between Poverty & Basic Income

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INFOGRAPH: The Connection Between Poverty & Basic Income

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ARTICLE: Multiple countries have tested a universal basic income – and it works - April 10 2024

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ARTICLE: Multiple countries have tested a universal basic income – and it works - April 10 2024

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In short: England is the latest in a string of countries to test giving its residents a guaranteed amount of money every month, also known as a universal basic income (UBI). UBI has been proven to reduce poverty, yet few countries have embraced it as policy.

What is universal basic income?

UBI is a recurring cash payment to someone regardless of their work status or other qualifiers such as income, age, etc. There are five defining characteristics of a UBI, according to the Stanford Basic Income Lab. UBI is:

a recurring payment (monthly, bi-weekly, etc.) rather than a one-time payment;

a cash payment;

universal - meaning not targeted to any specific population;

paid to individuals rather than households; and

unconditional - meaning it has no work requirements.

A real-life example of UBI in action is in England. The program was launched at the end of June 2023, and 30 residents will receive about $2,013 every month for two years, regardless of their work or economic status.

It's worth noting that this test isn't government-sponsored. The think tank Autonomy is running this experiment in north London and northeast England.

What is the goal of UBI?

UBI is meant to ensure some level of economic security - either to help recover from a crisis, or to cover daily expenses that would be unaffordable otherwise - instead of waiting for the government to step in for individual cases of assistance.

Doug MacKay, a public policy professor at the University of North Carolina, pointed to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how UBI could be helpful.

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"When people are losing their jobs, it takes a long time for government to react," he told a UNC publication. "Had we had a basic income in place, that would have been a way of ensuring people are secure, have the ability to meet their basic needs and live a dignified human life. They don't need to appeal to various agencies. They have consistency in terms of being able to afford housing, food and so on. It's an anti-poverty measure."

Does UBI work?

Multiple recent studies have shown that UBI can lead to improved health outcomes and increased employment for recipients of UBI.

For example, a Finnish study showed that average life satisfaction for a group that received money was higher - 7.3 out of 10 - compared to a group that received no money, whose average life satisfaction rating was 6.8.

"People receiving the basic income reported better health and lower levels of stress, depression, sadness, and loneliness-all major determinants of happiness-than people in the control group," according to a report on the study.

Another study in Stockton, California, found that full-time employment increased because UBI gave people time to apply for better jobs, rather than having to work multiple part-time jobs. And a study in Hudson, New York, found that all employment increased from 29 to 63 percent, which contradicts opponents of UBI that claim it would "destroy" any incentive to work.

Where has UBI been tested?

There have been at least 160 UBI tests globally, according to the Stanford Basic Income Lab.

About two-thirds of those tests have occurred in the U.S., but the largest and longest test is underway in Kenya. Since 2017, a charity is giving monthly payments of about 75 cents per day to over 20,000 Kenyans across about 200 rural villages until 2029.

Where has UBI been implemented?

In 2011, Iran introduced a "nationwide unconditional cash transfer program to compensate for the phase-out of subsidies on bread, water, electricity, heating, and fuel." The average Iranian household received 29% of its income from this program - in 2019, each household received IRR 550,000, which was about $20 at the time.

Another example is Alaska. Since 1982, the Alaskan government has given each citizen an annual check based on the state's oil production. The payout typically ranges from $1,000 to $2,000, but it reached a high of $3,284 in 2022.

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Multiple countries have tested a universal basic income - and it works

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England is the latest country to test giving residents a guaranteed amount of money every month, also known as a universal basic income (UBI).

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DATABASE: Global Map of Basic Income Experiments

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DATABASE: Global Map of Basic Income Experiments

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Global Map of Basic Income Experiments | Stanford Basic Income Lab

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This geospatial map presents UBI-related experiments, pilots, programs and policies throughout the world, some past and some ongoing, and enables the user to compare them across a range of designs and implementation features.

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REPORT: Potential Economic Impacts and Reach of Basic Income Programs in Canada - 2019 

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REPORT: Potential Economic Impacts and Reach of Basic Income Programs in Canada - 2019 

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Report: Basic Income can grow Canada’s economy $80B/year, add 600,000 jobs

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A report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis shows how Basic Income could speed up Canada’s recovery and grow our economy sustainably, while ending poverty and growing the middle class. It will provide the first ever look at the economic impact of a national basic income.

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EVENTS: Raising the Floor Film - Sept 2024

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EVENTS: Raising the Floor Film - Sept 2024

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From Basic Income Nova Scotia | Facebook:

In September, BIG-NS is partnering with the public libraries in Sydney, Baddeck, Halifax Central, Woodlawn, and Sackville and the NSCC in Truro (and potentially other locations) to show and discuss the movie Raising the Floor, a moving narrative of a majority Latinx community coming together to feed neighbours and strangers during an unprecedented public health crisis, eventually by providing unconditional cash transfers to those in need. Here is the event description for the Sackville showing: https://halifax.bibliocommons.com/.../66a3d60442fa12abcec...

You can watch the movie trailer here: https://www.raisingthefloorfilm.com/

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In 2020 a global pandemic sent the majority Latinx city of Chelsea, Massachusetts spiraling into chaos. Frontline workers risked their lives to help others, while City leaders came together in a desperate moment with a simple but inspired idea.

We are taking the film on tour to explore issues around universal basic income and guaranteed basic income with communities across the country. Contact us to learn more!

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In 2020 a global pandemic sent the majority Latinx city of Chelsea, Massachusetts spiraling into chaos. Frontline workers risked their lives to help others, while City leaders came together in a desperate moment with a simple but inspired idea.

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EVENT: Basic Income Nova Scotia's 6th Conference: Confronting the Challenges - Sept 6 2024 

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EVENT: Basic Income Nova Scotia's 6th Conference: Confronting the Challenges - Sept 6 2024 

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Welcome to Basic Income Nova Scotia Society's 6th Annual Conference: Confronting the Challenges! Join us at the Paul O’Regan Hall of the Halifax Central Library for a day filled with insightful panel discussions, engaging workshops, free lunch, a film, and networking opportunities. This in-person event with a Zoom option is a great chance to connect with like-minded individuals passionate about advocating for basic income in our province and for those who are curious to learn more about a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), its benefits, and how it might work in practice. Presentations will include basic Income and how it can improve housing and food security, forging a path forward to implementation at a national and provincial level, and what you can do to help. We will also be showing A Human Picture, a movie about the Ontario pilot project which was cut short before completion. See you there!

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Basic Income Nova Scotia’s 6th Conference: Confronting the Challenges

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Join us at Basic Income Nova Scotia’s 6th Conference for a day of learning, networking, and advocating for a basic income for all.

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REPORT: Universal Basic Income policies and their potential for addressing health inequities - 2021 WHO

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REPORT: Universal Basic Income policies and their potential for addressing health inequities - 2021 WHO

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REPORT: Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for Nova Scotia Municipalities that Leaves No One Behind - June 24 2024

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REPORT: Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for Nova Scotia Municipalities that Leaves No One Behind - June 24 2024

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As municipal elections approach in October 2024, Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for Nova Scotia Municipalities that Leaves No One Behind lays out ways to turn the values of social and economic justice into concrete policy realities to improve people's lives in communities across this province.

The report contains policy recommendations for incoming municipal councils to consider in six key areas, on issues including publicly-managed services, transit, housing, climate change, taxation, wages, and more. For example, the report recommends that municipalities move toward providing free public transit, support building 30,000+ new affordable homes, and save money by putting an end to ineffective contracting-out and privatization. The report also highlights the urgent action required at the municipal level to address and mitigate climate change's impacts, and steps municipalities can take to be more prepared for climate change.

Building Inclusive Communities includes sets of questions that residents can ask candidates running in municipal elections about their values and priorities, and how they would shape the future of their communities should they be elected to office.

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Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for Nova Scotia Municipalities that Leaves No One Behind

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As municipal elections approach in October 2024,&nbsp;Building Inclusive Communities: A Policy Agenda for Nova Scotia Municipalities that Leaves No One Behind&nbsp;lays out ways to&nbsp;turn the value

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A Living Wage in Northern Nova Scotia is $24.30 per hour according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (2023).  A person working full time/35 hours per week would earn $44,226 with a Living Wage.

The minimum wage in Nova Scotia is $15.20 which is $9.10 below or 62% of the Living Wage.  A person working full time/35 hours per week would earn $27,664 with a minimum wage -- $16,562 below a Living Wage.

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REPORT: 2023 Report Card on Child & Family Poverty in Nova Scotia 

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REPORT: 2023 Report Card on Child & Family Poverty in Nova Scotia 

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Housing costs

2 in 5 Nova Scotians spend 30% of more of their income on housing costs. A one-bedroom apartment in Antigonish can cost $1,000 to $1,200.  According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2023 report, the cost of shelter for a family of 4 in Northern Nova Scotia was $1,752.  This would be higher in Antigonish.

Utility Costs

Utilities can average $400 per month or $4,800 per year.

NS Power: $195/month

Internet/Cable/Phone: $120/month

Water/Other: $80 - $100/month

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ARTICLE: An Experiment to Inform Universal Basic Income - Sept 15 2020

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ARTICLE: An Experiment to Inform Universal Basic Income - Sept 15 2020

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As income inequality and economic upheaval take center stage, is a guaranteed minimum income worth considering? Results from a two-year experiment in Finland offer clues.

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Readers who are familiar with the inequality debate or the fears that robots will take all of our jobs will almost certainly have heard about the idea of a universal basic income. As typically conceived, basic-income programs are meant to provide a financial safety net, with no obligations and without the bureaucracy and associated administrative costs of means-tested benefits. Trends in globalization and automation, as well as the rapid rise in the cost of necessities, such as housing, had already started to put pressure on social contracts in many countries before the pandemic. Now, with COVID-19 creating additional economic risks-especially for already-vulnerable groups -questions about how best to support people living on low incomes are bound to become even more important.

In Finland's two-year study, a treatment group of 2,000 randomly picked, initially unemployed people received a guaranteed, unconditional, and automatic cash payment of a modest €560 per month instead of a basic unemployment allowance in similar amounts. Even with a housing allowance, which basic-income recipients were eligible for, this level of support was significantly below the incomes of most Finnish households (Exhibit 1). All other unemployed people, who continued to receive standard benefits, formed the control group.

The final results from Finland's experiment are now in, and the findings are intriguing: the basic income in Finland led to a small increase in employment, significantly boosted multiple measures of the recipients' well-being, and reinforced positive individual and societal feedback loops.

A small increase in employment

In the design of the Finnish experiment, the main research question, agreed to by parliament in the enabling legislation, was the impact of a basic income on employment. Many policy makers assume that an entirely unconditional guaranteed income would reduce incentives to work. After all, the argument goes, why bother with a job if you can have a decent life without one? This assumption has led many countries to deploy active labor-market policies that require people on unemployment benefits to prove their eligibility continually and, often, to participate in some kind of training or to accept jobs offered to them.

A critical lesson of the Finnish experiment is the complexity of implementing a basic income. Policy makers need to decide how it should interact with a large number of other policies, such as child benefits, housing benefits, pensions, health insurance, and taxation; for example, in the Finnish experiment, basic-income recipients were eligible for housing allowances but not for basic social-assistance payments. Unless such linkages are streamlined, they could detract from a basic-income system's potentially considerable savings in administrative costs.

Such interactions emphasize the importance of running further experiments and tracking outcomes across a wide range of well-being factors, including not only employment and financial security but also health and happiness. Of course, the effects will vary from one group to another.

A huge boost to well-being

However you read the findings on employment, other effects were clear: people on the basic income reported significantly better well-being on multiple dimensions. Average life satisfaction among the treatment group was 7.3 out of 10, compared with 6.8 in the control group- a very large increase. To experience a similar lift in life satisfaction, we estimate that a person's income would need to go up by as much as €800 to €2,500 per month-60 to 170 percent of the average per-capita household income in the European Union. Indeed, the difference was big enough to erase the gap in life satisfaction between unemployed and employed people.

These significant positive findings on well-being are no mystery: the basic income seems to have improved all the major components of life satisfaction (Exhibit 2). People receiving the basic income reported better health and lower levels of stress, depression, sadness, and loneliness-all major determinants of happiness-than people in the control group. Recipients of the basic income also demonstrated more confidence in their cognitive skills, assessing their ability to remember, learn, and concentrate at higher levels than the control group did. And the basic income enabled people to perceive their financial situation as more secure and manageable, even though their incomes were no higher than those of people in the control group. Finally, basic-income recipients expressed higher levels of trust in their own future, their fellow citizens, and public institutions.

Positive feedback loops

The basic income also appears to have had an effect on the dynamic cause-and-effect loops that trap some people in deprivation while others thrive on multiple dimensions. In other words, a relatively small positive intervention seems to have generated multiple mutually reinforcing positive effects. These dynamics could completely change the typical calculus of cost-benefit analyses. The Finnish study finds that the basic income unlocked at least two virtuous cycles: one that operates at the level of individuals (and their families) and another at the level of society.

At the individual level, a monthly, guaranteed, and entirely unconditional cash sum had a liberating effect on many recipients. Better feelings of health, happiness, cognitive abilities, and financial security seem to have instilled a sense of confidence that encouraged the recipients to branch out and to seek more expansive opportunities: unpaid work, training, or employment. These activities, in turn, fueled more positive feelings. The recipients' trust in their own abilities and their positive outlook seem to have acted as self-fulfilling prophecies. In contrast, research has found that people experiencing scarcity and uncertainty tend to suffer from reduced bandwidth, shortened time horizons, and feelings of inadequacy or helplessness.

As with any policy analysis, the results of this experiment remain subject to debate and can't necessarily be generalized. As a result, the experiment does offer an object lesson in the complexity of designing and implementing a randomized control trial of basic income. Nevertheless, more research on basic income is required. We can hope that Finland's example will inform and inspire others as they set up their own experiments.

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An experiment to inform universal basic income

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As income inequality and economic upheaval take center stage, is a guaranteed minimum income worth considering? Results from a two-year experiment in Finland offer clues.

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ARTICLE: Basic Income Key Talking Points - Aug 4 2022

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ARTICLE: Basic Income Key Talking Points - Aug 4 2022

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If you're like me, you've probably seen a naysayer or two talk about how "Basic Income couldn't work". You've heard the misguided talking points about "people being lazy" or that it's "bad for the economy", or maybe even that "it raises taxes on the middle class".

Well, we have the data and we can tell you that those talking points aren't based in reality. Decades of research already shows that Basic Income works, and we're here to equip supporters like yourself with the right facts about Basic Income.
(Each link below goes to a short video with key points and a link to fuller factsheet.)
💸 Basic Income could grow the economy more than it costs. A national Basic Income could grow the economy by $80B/year, create 600K jobs, and support working people and businesses - while lifting 3.2 million families out of poverty.‍

💰 And yes, we can pay for it without taxing the vast majority of Canadians. TLDR: if your money comes from a paycheque, you likely won't pay for it.

You can find all this research and more in our Basic Income Factsheet, which includes decades of data showing all of the wide-ranging benefits of Basic Income.

At UBI Works, our mission is to equip Canadians with evidence-based narratives that Basic Income is a good investment in Canadians and our economy,so that our politicians understand the true necessity and will work to make it reality.

I hope that this will be useful to you and other basic income supporters as it has been to me and other activists in our UBI Works community. Join me in spreading these talking points to even more people as we continue to push towards Basic Income in Canada.

‍

Floyd Marinescu, Founder of UBI Works

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Decades of research already shows that Basic Income supports our people and our economy. We have the data.

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NEWS: Newfoundland and Labrador to launch basic income program for residents aged 60-64 - Nov 8 2023

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NEWS: Newfoundland and Labrador to launch basic income program for residents aged 60-64 - Nov 8 2023

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Newfoundland and Labrador to launch basic income program for residents aged 60-64

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Newfoundland and Labrador announced a poverty reduction plan today that includes a basic income program for residents aged 60-64 who are receiving social assistance.

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ARTICLE: The amazing true socialist miracle of the Alaska Permanent Fund - Feb 13 2018

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ARTICLE: The amazing true socialist miracle of the Alaska Permanent Fund - Feb 13 2018

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Every resident gets a check just for being alive, and it really, really works.

The idea of a universal basic income - a check sent out by the government to every American, no strings attached, just for being alive - is sometimes decried as un-American, as a way for people to get money they didn't work for.

But America contains one of the few places the policy has been tried at scale: Alaska.

The Alaska Permanent Fund is a state-owned investment fund established using oil revenues. It has, since 1982, paid out an annual dividend to every man, woman, and child living in Alaska. In 2015, with oil prices high, the dividend totaled $2,072 per person, or $8,288 for a family of four. By 2017, it had been cut down to $1,100 due to money being diverted to other purposes; in cheaper gas years, it can dip into the $800 to $900 range.

That's not a living wage by any means, and it arguably doesn't satisfy the "basic" requirement of "universal basic income." But it's a truly universal cash transfer program, the only one of its kind to be implemented in the United States, and it almost always offers families enough to eliminate desperate $2-a-day cash poverty.

Decades of conservative critics have decried cash programs like Aid to Families With Dependent Children or Social Security Disability Insurance, as vigor-sapping, soul-deadening subsidies for moochers, economic disasters that stunt growth and encourage sloth.

So economists Damon Jones of UChicago and Ioana Marinescu of UPenn decided to figure out if Alaska's cash payments were discouraging Alaskans from working. Their conclusion: not really. They find that "the dividend had no effect on employment" overall.

In other words: Alaska has figured out a way to use its oil wealth to give all its residents cash for free and wipe out extreme poverty - and it doesn't appear to be harming its economy in the process.

Cash transfers didn't lead to fewer working Alaskans

The challenge, in evaluating the effects of Alaska's cash payments, is finding a baseline to which to compare the state's outcomes. You can't just compare Alaska after the policy was implemented in 1982 to Alaska before that, as there are plenty of other differences between the Alaskan economy in, say, 1981 versus 1983 (the US was in recession in 1981, for instance). And there's no state that's otherwise identical to Alaska that didn't enact the policy to use as a baseline. Alaska is, as any resident will tell you, its own beast.

So Jones and Marinescu employ what's known in the social sciences as a "synthetic control" method. Basically, they combine a number of other states whose patterns of employment, part-time work, and related statistics roughly match Alaska's in the years before the policy was enacted. None of the states alone is a good comparison, but if you combine them carefully, you can come up with a "synthetic Alaska" for comparison.

Here's how employment rate - the share of people currently at work, as a share of the overall population - evolved in Alaska versus synthetic Alaska, before and after 1982:

There really isn't much difference. Some years Alaska has higher employment than its synthetic counterpart, other years it doesn't, but overall, they remain very close to each other. The cash payments don't appear to have much effect.

To test how robust their findings are, Jones and Marinescu also compared Alaska's employment rate to that of every single other state as well as DC, using every year of data they have, from 1977 to 2014. That's 1,836 comparisons. The average difference between Alaska and other states in all those comparisons is -0.0004, vanishingly close to zero. That implies that their results aren't just an artifact of which states they chose to be part of "synthetic Alaska." The state just didn't become an outlier with unusually high or low employment as a result of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.

They repeat the analysis for labor force participation - the share of the population either working or unemployed and actively looking for work - and similarly find no difference.

Where they do find a difference is part-time work, which increases in Alaska, compared to synthetic Alaska, after the cash payments are introduced:

The increase in part-time work isn't huge - Jones and Marinescu estimate the increase in the share of the population that works part time to be around 1.8 percentage points - but it's real.

There are two things that could be going on here:

1. People could be shifting out of full-time work and into part-time work because the dividend checks gave them money, enabling them to work shorter hours.

2. People who weren't working before the cash payment are driven to start working because of it, perhaps because it helps pay for transportation, child care, and other fixed costs of employment.

They find some evidence for the latter effect. "Some specifications suggest a marginally positive employment effect, which, in combination with the increase in part-time worked, could indicate new entrants into employment who work part-time," they write.

That said, they also find evidence that the checks, on the margins, reduced work hours. But they conclude that this was mostly offset by the increased spending the checks enabled, which in turn helped businesses hire more.

When they split up businesses into "tradable" ones (like logging or oil extraction) that primarily sell their products to people and businesses outside Alaska, and "non-tradable" ones (grocery stores, accountants, landscaping) that sell only within Alaska, they found that employment rates at the latter held constant, and part-time work didn't increase. That is, companies that benefited from new spending as a result of the checks didn't cut employment at all. By contrast, part-time work did increase, and employment fell, in companies that sold goods outside Alaska, and so didn't benefit from their customers suddenly having more money.

Alaska's policy is unusually good and hard to replicate

"A universal and unconditional cash transfer does not significantly reduce aggregate employment," Jones and Marinescu conclude. It's an important conclusion, and one that other research, studying everything from "negative income tax" experiments in the 1970s to programs in Iran and at Indian reservations, confirms.

There just doesn't seem to be much evidence that giving people a modest amount of cash stops them from working entirely, or leads them to work significantly less.

But there's a big caveat: Alaska pays these checks out of an investment fund financed by oil money. Taxing or collecting royalties for natural resources is just about the best way for the government to pay for stuff. Oil is in the ground, there's a limited supply of it, and taxing it doesn't reduce the amount left in the ground. It might reduce companies' incentive to bring it out of the ground, but frankly, given climate change, that's probably a good thing. Relying too heavily on oil money can cause political dysfunction, but distributing the money as cash to citizens helps reduce opportunities for corruption.

With exceptions like Texas and North Dakota, the rest of the US doesn't have those kinds of oil reserves, which makes the math of financing a similar policy at the federal level tough. Hillary Clinton considered proposing a national expansion of the Permanent Fund under the title "Alaska for America" during the 2016 campaign, but couldn't make the financing work.

Realistically, a similar policy at the national level would probably be funded the way the rest of the federal government is, with a mixture of income, payroll, and corporate taxes. Those are perfectly fine taxes, but standard economic theory predicts that raising them will, on the margin, discourage work, which might result in different effects on employment than Alaska's policy has had.

But a similar policy financed by hyper-efficient taxes - like ones on land value, carbon emissions, alcohol, cigarettes, gasoline, and sugar - would likely do what Alaska's policy does: reduce poverty, boost average incomes, and not harm the economy in the process.

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The amazing true socialist miracle of the Alaska Permanent Fund

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Every resident gets a check just for being alive, and it really, really works.

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Basic income has genuine momentum now as a social policy option, not just in Canada, but around the world. Basic Income Canada Network is pleased to be able to offer this series of 12 short ‘primers’ on the topic that answers many questions, from how it could work, to why it is needed, and how it might impact you.

1. Overview

2. In Canada

3. Gender and Family

4. Health

5. International

6. Morals and Values

7. Poverty

8. Public Services

9. The New Economy

10. The Business Case

11. What It Could Mean For You

12. Food Insecurity

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Basic income has genuine momentum now as a social policy option, not just in Canada, but around the world. Basic Income Canada Network is pleased to be able to offer this series of 12 short 'primers' on the topic that answers many questions, from how it could work, to why it is needed, and how it might impact you.

Download one - or all of them - and see how a basic income could transform our country into a compassionate, smart, entrepreneurial, and healthy society.

This content is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Basic income has genuine momentum now as a social policy option, not just in Canada, but around the world. Basic Income Canada Network is pleased to be able to offer this series of 11 short 'primers' on the topic that answers many questions, from how it could work, to why it is needed, and how it might impact you.

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DATABASE: Basic Income Introductory Readings

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DATABASE: Basic Income Introductory Readings

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A Basic Income Guarantee for All: The Time Has Arrived (2016): A February 2016 speech in Ottawa by Rob Rainer, picking up on positive developments for basic income in Canada, touching on key challenges facing the Canadian basic income movement, and responding to two of the most oft-heard concerns or objections to basic income - its perceived cost and the so-called work disincentive.

A Canadian City Once Eliminated Poverty and Nearly Everyone Forgot About It (2014): A news article comprehensively reviewing the 1970s Manitoba Mincome experiment and what has been learned from it in recent years.

A Plea for Young People to Join the Fight for Basic Income: In a short article, Tony Kirby of Vancouver makes a case for youth engagement in the struggle for basic income.

About Basic Income: A short overview from the web site of Basic Income Earth Network with links to dozens of frequently asked questions, and much more on the BIEN site.

Basic Income and You: A web page from Basic Income Ireland with information relevant to Canadians; nicely describes how basic income can improve the lives of the employed, unemployed, self-employed, the young and those involved in caregiving or artistic/creative work.

Basic Income Guarantee: Backgrounder: By public health experts Brian Hyndman and Lisa Simon, this is an accessible introduction to basic income - definition, its history in Canada, potential benefits and more.

Cash transfers can work better than subsidies (2014): A news article on the “transformative” potential of basic income in India, based on recent pilot programs there.

Good Poor, Bad Poor (2013): A news article with an excellent critique of the prejudice that the poor are lazy, dependent etc.

How to put Canada back together again (2013): A distinguished Canadian journalist identifies basic income as one of “four big recommendations for repairing the tears in our social fabric.”

Income Security for All Canadians: Understanding Guaranteed Income (undated): This paper covers all the major issues from different models of how basic income works, to funding, pro and con arguments and a history of proposals in Canada, with good references for further reading.

Income Security for Working-Age Adults in Canada: Let’s consider the model under our nose (2008): This paper presents important information and analysis of Canada’s income security system.

Money for nothing: Mincome experiment could pay dividends 40 years on (2014): A news article focusing on the Manitoba Mincome experiment of the 1970s, featuring interviews with a couple of basic income recipients at that time.

Possibilities and Prospects: The Debate Over a Guaranteed Income (2009): This paper assesses the pros and cons of guaranteed (basic) income.

Rethinking the Idea of a Basic Income for All (2013): A news article in which the writer surveys right-of-centre American thought on basic income, noting how basic income has received support from the conservative and libertarian wings of the political spectrum.

Scrapping Welfare: The case for guaranteeing all Canadians an income above the poverty line (2012): A case for basic income by the always eloquent Hugh Segal, former Conservative Senator, former Chief of Staff to the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, and presently the Master of Massey College in Toronto.

Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts (2010): An excellent summary report of the various social determinants of health of which income is one.

The Basic Income We Want: Statement from Basic Income Canada Network on key guidelines for good basic income design. (In French: Le Revenu garanti que nous voulons Une déclaration du Conseil d’administration du Réseau canadien pour le revenu garanti)

The Case for a Guaranteed Income (2013): An infographic nicely contrasting basic income against welfare.

The Global Economy is Changing Rapidly (2018): A short and colourful cartoon story making the case for basic income (also available as a PDF file and a JPG file).

They can’t, but we can (2014): A Canadian income security expert provides his low-cost estimate of eliminating income poverty in Ontario via a basic income.

To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor (2011): A news article surveying Brazil and Mexico’s success with basic income, with programs reaching tens of millions of families.

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? (2010): A news article framing the possibilities of and barriers to basic income in Canada.

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A Basic Income Guarantee for All: The Time Has Arrived (2016): A February 2016 speech in Ottawa by Rob Rainer, picking up on positive developments for basic income in Canada, touching on key challenges facing the Canadian basic income movement, and responding to two of the most oft-heard concerns or objections to basic income - its perceived cost and the so-called work disincentive.

A Canadian City Once Eliminated Poverty and Nearly Everyone Forgot About It (2014): A news article comprehensively reviewing the 1970s Manitoba Mincome experiment and what has been learned from it in recent years.

A Plea for Young People to Join the Fight for Basic Income: In a short article, Tony Kirby of Vancouver makes a case for youth engagement in the struggle for basic income.

About Basic Income: A short overview from the web site of Basic Income Earth Network with links to dozens of frequently asked questions, and much more on the BIEN site.

Basic Income and You: A web page from Basic Income Ireland with information relevant to Canadians; nicely describes how basic income can improve the lives of the employed, unemployed, self-employed, the young and those involved in caregiving or artistic/creative work.

Basic Income Guarantee: Backgrounder: By public health experts Brian Hyndman and Lisa Simon, this is an accessible introduction to basic income - definition, its history in Canada, potential benefits and more.

Cash transfers can work better than subsidies (2014): A news article on the "transformative" potential of basic income in India, based on recent pilot programs there.

Good Poor, Bad Poor (2013): A news article with an excellent critique of the prejudice that the poor are lazy, dependent etc.

How to put Canada back together again (2013): A distinguished Canadian journalist identifies basic income as one of "four big recommendations for repairing the tears in our social fabric."

Income Security for All Canadians: Understanding Guaranteed Income (undated): This paper covers all the major issues from different models of how basic income works, to funding, pro and con arguments and a history of proposals in Canada, with good references for further reading.

Income Security for Working-Age Adults in Canada: Let's consider the model under our nose (2008): This paper presents important information and analysis of Canada's income security system.

Money for nothing: Mincome experiment could pay dividends 40 years on (2014): A news article focusing on the Manitoba Mincome experiment of the 1970s, featuring interviews with a couple of basic income recipients at that time.

Possibilities and Prospects: The Debate Over a Guaranteed Income (2009): This paper assesses the pros and cons of guaranteed (basic) income.

Rethinking the Idea of a Basic Income for All (2013): A news article in which the writer surveys right-of-centre American thought on basic income, noting how basic income has received support from the conservative and libertarian wings of the political spectrum.

Scrapping Welfare: The case for guaranteeing all Canadians an income above the poverty line (2012): A case for basic income by the always eloquent Hugh Segal, former Conservative Senator, former Chief of Staff to the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, and presently the Master of Massey College in Toronto.

Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts (2010): An excellent summary report of the various social determinants of health of which income is one.

The Basic Income We Want: Statement from Basic Income Canada Network on key guidelines for good basic income design. (In French: Le Revenu garanti que nous voulons Une déclaration du Conseil d'administration du Réseau canadien pour le revenu garanti)

The Case for a Guaranteed Income (2013): An infographic nicely contrasting basic income against welfare.

The Global Economy is Changing Rapidly (2018): A short and colourful cartoon story making the case for basic income (also available as a PDF file and a JPG file).

They can't, but we can (2014): A Canadian income security expert provides his low-cost estimate of eliminating income poverty in Ontario via a basic income.

To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor (2011): A news article surveying Brazil and Mexico's success with basic income, with programs reaching tens of millions of families.

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? (2010): A news article framing the possibilities of and barriers to basic income in Canada.

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We invite you to join and support the movement for a Basic Income Guarantee for all.

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REPORT: Indicators of Prosperity - Sept 2020

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REPORT: Indicators of Prosperity - Sept 2020

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The cost of food for a family of 4 in Nova Scotia in 2018 was $1,044 per month or $12, 528 per year. (Nova Scotia Finance and Treasury Board.

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To view previous releases, select one from the dropdown box:

Currently displaying information released on: September, 2020

CANADIAN INCOME SURVEY, 2018 REVISIONS TO POVERTY RATE

With revisions to thresholds for the Market Basket Measure (MBM) of poverty, Statistics Canada has restated poverty rates across Canada. Incomes for the 2018 reference year reported in the Canadian Income Survey are unchanged, but the increased threshold reclassifies additional families and individuals as experiencing poverty. Poverty rates have been re-estimated back to 2015 using the 2018 base for the MBM.

Poverty Rates

The Market Basket Measure estimates the share of the population that do not have sufficient income to afford the cost of a basket of essential goods and services. The MBM threshold is estimated for specific communities. In Nova Scotia, there are separate thresholds for MBM in Halifax, Cape Breton, communities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000, communities with populations under 30,000 and rural areas.

According to the Canadian Income Survey, 13.3 per cent of Nova Scotians lived with income below the poverty line established by the MBM threshold, revised up from the previous estimate of 10.3 per cent under the 2008 base for MBM thresholds. Nova Scotia has the highest poverty rate among provinces, followed by British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. Nationally, 11.0 per cent of the population had income below the MBM threshold with a low of 9.4 per cent in Alberta.

Poverty rates have been declining for several years in Canada and Nova Scotia. Although the revisions to the MBM thresholds increase the poverty rate in each year, the declining trend in poverty remains.

The largest group of persons in poverty in Canada is found among those who are not in economic families. Although poverty rates are similar for lone parent families, this group makes up a smaller share of the population and therefore a smaller portion of Canadians in poverty. Couple families (with children or without) typically have lower poverty rates, but they are a large portion of Canada's population and therefore make up a sizable number of Canadians in poverty.

The bulk of Canadians in poverty are aged 18-64. The poverty rate among seniors is lower while the poverty rate among children is higher.

Among family structures, Nova Scotia's share of persons in economic families living below the MBM threshold of poverty was 8.9 per cent in 2018, revised up from 6.9 per cent under the previous (2008) MBM thresholds. Nova Scotia's poverty among economic families is the highest among provinces. Poverty rates for persons in economic families were revised up in every province.

The poverty rate among Nova Scotia's economic families has declined in the last two years, closing the gap with the national average.

Within economic families, the share of Nova Scotia couples (non-elderly, without children or other relatives) living below the MBM threshold of poverty was 8.4 per cent, revised up from 6.9 per cent. Non-elderly couples without children generally have lower poverty rates than for all economic families.

Nova Scotia's poverty rate among couple familes without children increased from 2017 to 2018

In 2018, 8.6 per cent of Nova Scotia couple families with children lived with income below the poverty line. This was revised up from 6.9 per cent under the 2008 base.

In 2017, there was a large increase in the number of people in couple families with children living under the poverty threshold. However, by 2018, the gap narrowed between poverty rates for couple families with children in Nova Scotia and Canada.

Lone parent families across the country report a higher share of the population living below the MBM threshold of poverty. In 2018, 29.3 per cent of persons in lone parent families in Nova Scotia lived below the MBM poverty line. This is revised up from 25.5 per cent measured using the 2008 base. Poverty among lone parent families has been revised up substantially in most provinces (data for Prince Edward Island are unavailable).

In 2017 and 2018, the poverty rate for lone parent families has declined significantly, particularly for Nova Scotia. In 2016, 49.4 per cent of Nova Scotians in lone parent families lived in poverty. In the next two years, this share declined by over 20 percentage points.

Those living outside of economic families report higher poverty rates than those living in economic families. In 2018, 33.5 per cent of the population of Nova Scotians not in economic families had income below the MBM poverty line, revised up from 25.6 per cent under the 2008 base for the MBM threshold.

In 2016 and 2017, poverty rates among those not in an economic family declined, but this progress stopped in 2018.

The share of Nova Scotia children in families with incomes below the MBM has been revised up from 12.1 per cent under the 2008 base to 14.8 per cent under the 2018 base for the threshold. Nova Scotia's rate of children in poverty remains the highest among provinces. Child poverty has been revised up in all provinces, with the largest increase in British Columbia.

After stalling in 2017, Nova Scotia's child poverty declined again in 2018.

The share of Nova Scotia's population aged 18-64 living below the MBM threshold of poverty was 14.6 per cent, highest among provinces.

The share of Nova Scotians aged 18-64 living in poverty has declined in each of the last two years.

The share of senior citizens (aged 65+) living below the MBM is lower than it is for other age cohorts in Nova Scotia, but there has been a substantial upward revision, from 3.5 per cent under the 2008 base to 8.1 per cent under the 2018 base for the threshold. The revisions resulted in a higher share of seniors poverty in every province.

The poverty rate among seniors increased in Nova Scotia in 2018.

Notes and definitions

The Canadian Income Survey estimates are based on probability samples and are therefore subject to sampling variability. As a result, estimates will show more variability than trends observed over longer time periods.

The market basket measure (MBM) of poverty is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the costs of food, clothing, footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses for a reference family. These costs are compared with the disposable income of families to determine whether or not they fall below the poverty line. The definitions for the basket of goods and services have been updated as of the 2018 reference year (see separate article in today's DailyStats).

An economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship. This concept differs from the census family concept used for subprovincial data in the Annual Income Estimates for Census Families and Individuals.

Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey:
Table 11-10-0135-01 Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type Table 11-10-0136-01 Low income statistics by economic family type MARKET BASKET MEASURE 2018-BASE THRESHOLD UPDATE

Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESC) have updated the Market Basket Measure (MBM) to the 2018-base, completing the second comprehensive review of the MBM that started in 2018. For details of the changes a series of reports have been released: An update on the Market Basket Measure comprehensive review (Heisz, 2019), Towards an update of the Market Basket Measure (Djidel et al., 2019a), Defining disposable income in the Market Basket Measure (Djidel et al., 2019b). Report on the second comprehensive review of the Market Basket Measure (Djidel et. al, 2020).

SUMMARY OF CHANGES TO MBM THRESHOLD FOR THE 2018-BASE

All components of the MBM basket (clothing/footwear, food, shelter, transportation and other) have methodological changes for the 2018-base compared to the 2008-base. The change to methodology affects MBM regions differently, but overall there is a higher threshold in all MBM regions with the 2018-base. Generally the rural areas and population under 30,000 have the smallest change and the specific urban MBM regions/cities have the largest increase in each province. Note the three new MBM regions do not have 2008-base thresholds for comparisons and appear as NA in the following charts.

The threshold values are the disposable family income that is needed to be able to afford the MBM basket of goods and services, which are to reflect "a modest, basic standard of living" for a reference family of 2 adults and 2 children living in a particular region of the country. The threshold values for families of different sizes are calculated by multiplying the reference values by 50% of the square root of the family size. The threshold values have been reported in 2018-constant dollars.

The increase in the basket cost results in more people below the income threshold and thus an increase in the percentage of people living in poverty. The largest percentage and dollar increases in the threshold values were in urban areas. The higher threshold value is primarily from the shelter and transportation components of the basket.

The 2018-base thresholds for the reference family of 2 adults and 2 children in Nova Scotia increased for each region : rural (+$2,847), under 30,000 people (+$3,567), 30,000 to 99,999 people (+$6,193), Halifax (+$7,381) and Cape Breton (+$6,009).

The new MBM 2018-base threshold for the reference family for Nova Scotia are the following: rural ($41,588), under 30,000 people ($42,494), 30,000 to 99,999 people ($42,800), Halifax ($45,197) and Cape Breton ($41,533). The highest threshold value is in Toronto ($48,142) and the lowest is in Quebec under 30,000 ($37,397)

The 2018-base MBM for the clothing component basket of goods adopted the most recent (2012) list of goods of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and Winnipeg Harvest Acceptable Living Level. Previously the 2001 basket was used. The updated basket is more contemporary and responds to concerns around gender-stereotypes in quantities/types of clothing need. For the 2018-base MBM a one time collection from representative city in each province will be made with annual change based on the provincial CPI for "clothing and footwear". The component will continue to not differ between MBM regions within a province. The change for Nova Scotia is an increase in the clothing component by $19 to $2,207.

The 2018-base MBM uses the 2019 National Nutritious Food Basket to calculate food component and be consistent with the new Canada's Food Guide and commonly consumed nutritious foods. The change includes fresh, frozen and canned food formats to balance costs, access and availability considerations. Data collection from 38 cities across Canada will continue. The provincial CPI food price index would be used to determine change in price of the 2018-base food basket over time.

The threshold for food component rises all Nova Scotia regions except Cape Breton. Nova Scotia regions, except Cape Breton, had larger increases in the food thresholds than most other regions. The 2018-base MBM food component thresholds for a family of four in Nova Scotia is $12,001 for Halifax, $11,750 for Cape Breton and $12,528 for other areas.

The largest increase in the MBM threshold comes from the Shelter component. The 2018-base MBM updated the shelter component based on 2016 Census and adopted the National Occupancy Standard of a 3-bedroom rental unit, instead of the previous 2 and 3 bedroom units used in the 2008-base. The 2018-base estimate is the median cost of a 3-bedroom rental unit by families in the second income decile in the region. The 2018-base MBM uses the all-items index of the CPI instead of CPI-rental accommodation to update the shelter component. Statistics Canada notes that they will continue research this component.

The change results in increase in the shelter component for all Nova Scotia regions with the largest increase in Halifax. CMA/CAs in each province generally experienced larger shelter cost increases than less populated areas. The shelter component threshold for a four person family in 2018-base MBM is: rural ($9,842), under 30,000 people ($10,747), 30,000 to 99,999 person ($11,516), Halifax ($15,312), and Cape Breton ($11,764).

For 2018-base the change to the transportation component recognizes the widespread use of cars in urban centers, even those that have public transportation options. Based on 2016 Census commuting modes to work, urban areas will have a weighted transportation expenditure between public and private transportation. Rural areas and population centres under 30,000 will continue to use private transportation cost in the 2018-base. The typical compact car, assumed in the reference basket, has been updated to reflect the longevity of vehicles and improved fuel efficiency. The change results in lower transportation threshold in rural and under 30,000 MBM regions and a higher thresholds in areas that now include a private transportation component to the basket.

For Nova Scotia the transportation component cost for the reference family of four are: rural and under 30,000 ($4,790), 30,000 to 99,999 ($4,328), Halifax ($3,852), Cape Breton ($4,176).

The "other" component of the 2018-base basket recognises need for necessary good and services not captured in the shelter, food, clothing and transportation components (i.e. household items, reading materials, etc.). A specific basket is not priced out due to larger number of items and differences between family needs. The 2018-base MBM continues to calculate "other" costs as a multiple of food and clothing costs for each MBM region. In addition, average cell phone service expenditures of persons in the second decile of income are now added to the 2018-base basket. Annual updates for the 2018-base of the "other" component will be based on the all-items CPI for each province. This had previously been based on food and clothing costs.

The change to the other component results in a higher threshold in the Nova Scotia MBM regions, other than Cape Breton, than most other MBM regions in Canada. The other component costs for Nova Scotia in the 2018-base are $11,824 in Halifax, $11,635 in Cape Breton, and $12,221 in the rest of Nova Scotia.
SUMMARY OF CHANGES OTHER THAN THRESHOLD
Based on 2016 Census results, there are three new population centre size regions: Newfoundland and Labrador 30,000 to 99,9999, Ontario 500,000+ and Manitoba 30,000 to 99,999. There are now 53 MBM regions.

Three broad changes to disposable income calculation were made:

1) An adjustment to family income recognizes differences in shelter costs for homeowners with equity and subsidized renters compared to the shelter component of MBM that is based on renters. Previously only mortgage-free homeowners received an adjustment. The new concept will be referred to as the Tenure Type Adjustment (TTA). Estimates of the difference shelter costs will be based on imputation of interest payments and differentiated based on age of homeowners with mortgages.

2) Out-of-pocket medical expenses when no tax information is available is updated to more recent survey data. this results in higher costs for the 2018-base with Nova Scotia rising from $189 to $420, other provinces have similar change. Imputation will still only be used when tax data claims are zero or can't be linked.

3) Capital Gains taxes will no longer be deducted from pre-tax income in the 2018-base MBM. This prevents families with larger capital gains from appearing to be in poverty.

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year

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Nova Scotia Department of Finance - Statistics

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The Nova Scotia Department of Finance oversees revenues that make up the majority of the province's fiscal resources

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NEWS: Is Nova Scotia ready to try a basic income guarantee? - April 27 2019

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NEWS: Is Nova Scotia ready to try a basic income guarantee? - April 27 2019

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As a health economist, Evelyn Forget is most often asked how to keep costs of the health-care system under control and make things more sustainable. That eventually brought her to the issue of poverty.

"One of the things you realize very quickly is a lot of health-care dollars go into treating the consequences of poverty," she said in a phone interview.

The University of Manitoba medical school professor has most recently been considering the question of a basic income guarantee, something she and others will discuss during a free event today at the Halifax Central Library from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Forget has also written a book on the subject.

Principles of the idea include that it helps lift people out of poverty, doesn't require a means test and allows people to participate fully in society.

Meeting life's absolute necessities

Forget said one argument for a basic income is that it makes more sense to "invest up front" in people by taking steps to help them stay healthy, rather than be faced with the consequences of treating them once they become sick and enter the health-care system.

Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, a professor at Dalhousie University's school of communication science and disorders, and an organizer of today's event, said a basic income is a tool that provides everyone with the support they need to ensure the most basics in life, such as safe housing and healthy food.

"It allows for them to meet the absolute necessities of their life and this is, in my opinion, a human right. It's a social justice concern and all people should have those supports regardless of if they're working or not, regardless if they have a child or not."

Kay-Raining Bird said her research shows poverty affects child development not only because of less access to healthy food and other supports, but because of the stress that affects parents.

Ontario pilot cancelled after one year

The most recent example of a guaranteed income program in Canada was a pilot in Ontario, which was cut short after just one year when the Progressive Conservatives formed government. That program - which provided about $17,000 to single adults not working, and support on a sliding scale to anyone making up to $34,000 - showed positive results, said Kay-Raining Bird.

Surveys of participants showed some used the money to go back to school or access daycare services so it was easier to go to work or find better housing, she said.

Forget said applying such a plan nationally, which would require help from the federal government, would cost about $23 billion. While the number seems large, Forget notes it isn't any more than what's spent on old age security or guaranteed income supplement programs.

"This is a cost that, for other programs, we've decided we can afford as a country, so we could afford a basic income if we wanted to."

She notes governments already pay the costs of poverty, but in much more inefficient ways through reactionary health-care costs, disproportionate demands on the criminal justice system and insufficient provincial social programs.

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Is Nova Scotia ready to try a basic income guarantee? | CBC News

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Governments resist paying to prevent poverty but shoulder the costs in health care, criminal justice system and insufficient provincial social programs, say some academics and anti-poverty advocates.

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Guide to the Basic Income Content Library 

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Guide to the Basic Income Content Library 

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Hello! Welcome to our resource hub for guaranteed basic income in the Eastern Zone, Nova Scotia.

Each item is color coded:

Black - Reports

Red - Advocacy Tools

Orange - Databases/Lists of Resources

Green - News/Media

Blue - Infographs & Events

Purple - Articles

Please add your resource under the relevant heading, or create a new category. Please email megan1.macleod@nshealth.ca with any questions