Ontario is launching a basic income pilot project this spring that is to give financial stability for low-income residents.
Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the details of the province’s three-year project during a speech in Hamilton Monday.
The pilot will launch in the Hamilton area including in Brantford, Ont. and Brant County as well as the Thunder Bay, Ont., area late this spring, and in Lindsay, Ont., this fall, with a minimum payment of nearly $17,000 for an eligible single person.
Wynne said: “The project will explore the effectiveness of providing a basic income to people who are currently living on low incomes, whether they are working or not,” Wynne said. “People participating in our pilot communities will receive a minimum amount of income each year – a basic income, no matter what.”
In order to qualify, a single person would need to make less than $34,000 and a couple would need to make less than $48,000, a spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of community and social services said. The pilot is open to people aged 18 to 64.
Wynne said the level of support provided by the project isn’t extravagant, but will make real difference to a person “striving to reach for a better life.”
Technology and automation have changed the nature of work and these measures are intended to address some of these concerns.
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