Spring has arrived and it is time to share the Ontario Basic Income Network’s quarterly newsletter. With spring comes hope and we sincerely believe there are more people and politicians speaking about the benefits of a Basic Income.
In this edition we are trying to engage you by providing information on:
- Learning more about the Basic Income in Ontario, Canada and the World
- What is the BI movement doing?
- What are the critical decisions being made by political parties on Basic Income?
- Recent stories/articles on basic income
- Where can you take personal action in support of a basic income
If you will be in Toronto for the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) conference and/or you live in the area and want to connect with the Ontario Basic Income Network, please hold the evening of August 19th open as we are planning a gathering. We would love to meet you there.
Regards,
Kerry Lubrick & Tom Cooper
OBIN Co-Facilitators
Basic Income Earth Network 2026 Conference
We are excited that the Basic Income Earth Network’s annual conference will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 19 – 22, 2026. The Canada portion of the conference will take place on August 19th. The theme of the conference is “Basic Income and the Polycrisis: The Key to Unlocking the Puzzle”.
BIEN has a “call for proposals” and is welcoming abstracts for individual presentations, full sessions, and creative and artistic formats that engage with basic income in the context of today’s global polycrisis.
All presentations will be in-person. Submission deadline: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and Notification of decisions will be made by Tuesday, May 19, 2026.
UPDATE FROM THE BI MOVEMENT
10th Anniversary of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot
Submitted by Tom Cooper
Ten years ago, Ontario took a bold step in social policy.
In the spring of 2016, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government announced it would test a simple but transformative idea: what if we guaranteed people a basic level of income and trusted them to make decisions about their own lives? The Ontario Basic Income Pilot, launched in 2017, was designed to explore whether a more stable income floor could improve health, reduce poverty, and provide greater security in an increasingly precarious labour market.
The model itself was straightforward. Participants received up to about $17,000 annually as individuals, with benefits gradually reduced as earnings increased, allowing people to work while maintaining stability. It wasn’t just about income. It was about dignity, predictability, and removing the constant churn of survival that defines life on inadequate social assistance.
And then, just as early signs of impact began to emerge, the pilot was cancelled by a new government.
That decision, in 2018, cut short what could have been one of the most important social policy experiments in a generation. But despite its early end, the evidence and lived experience that followed have been remarkably consistent. Participants reported better mental and physical health, reduced stress, improved nutrition, and a greater ability to pursue education and employment opportunities.
In other words, when people had enough to live on, they didn’t withdraw from society. They re-engaged with it.
That’s the central lesson that continues to resonate a decade later. Basic income isn’t about opting out of work, it’s about creating the conditions that make work, caregiving, learning, and community participation possible. It’s about replacing a system built on scarcity and surveillance with one rooted in stability and trust.
And perhaps most importantly, it’s about recognizing that poverty is not a personal failure. It’s a policy choice.
As we face new pressures, rising housing costs, growing inequality, and the reshaping of work through automation and artificial intelligence, the questions raised by the Ontario Basic Income Pilot have only become more urgent. If anything, the experiment was ahead of its time.
Ten years on, the conversation hasn’t gone away. It has deepened, broadened, and, in many ways, become impossible to ignore.
If you’re interested in reflecting on where we’ve been and where we might go next, I’d invite you to join an upcoming Tamarack Institute webinar marking the 10-year anniversary of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot. It will bring together researchers, advocates, and people who received a basic income to revisit the evidence, the stories, and the path forward.
April 23, 2026
1:00 – 2:30 PM (Eastern Time)
To learn more and register here
The Case for Basic Income for Post Secondary
Thank you to the working group of Ashley Clark, Manpinder Dhillon, Chris Hergesheimer, Heather Lambert, Bethany Pohl, Elaine Power, Catherine Sweet, and Liz Townsend, with support from Barbara Boraks, Chloe Halpenny, and Mandy Kay-Raining Bird the newest case for a Basic Income is now available. Please see: https://www.obin.ca/bi_and_post_secondary_education
This is a great tool when advocating for a basic income. The Case for Basic Income series explores the impacts of a basic income program policy areas across Canada. Over the years, Cases have been developed in collaboration with subject matter experts and basic income advocates to consider the difference that basic income might make.
Niagara Poverty Reduction Network (NPRN) 2025 Fall Event
Submitted by Brandon Agnew, Community Health Broker, Public Health, Niagara Region
In November, The Niagara Poverty Reduction Network (NPRN) co-hosted with Brock University a free public screening of “It’s Basic”, a documentary about the recent Basic Income movement in the United States. They tied the themes of advocacy and education from the Spring Forum into a Fall community event. The event was hosted at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines through their Film House.
Deidre Pike and Jessie Golem were panelists after the film for a 30min question and answer period which was moderated by Brock University students.
The feedback we received on the film was positive and we’re going to co-host a film with Brock annually.
New Federal NDP leader Avi Lewis supports a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income
Submitted by Craig Berggold
If you contacted the Lewis campaign leading up to the leadership convention and asked about basic income, here is their reply:
“Thanks for writing to us about basic income. Avi fully supports NDP MP Leah Gazan’s Bill C-223. Introduced in the last parliament, the bill is a framework and a pathway to a guaranteed livable basic income (GLBI). The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women also called for GLBI as part of its Calls for Justice, and we back this demand enthusiastically.
Canada has a long history of basic income programs. Seniors and parents already get a basic income in the form of the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Child Benefit, respectively. A GLBI would build out and expand these programs to ensure that there’s a livable floor for everyone who falls through the gaps of our inadequate social safety net. Rather than sending money to everyone, including the 1%, the GLBI that Avi supports would be income-tested through the tax system and send money to those who need it.
To be clear, a basic income must not and does not replace any part of our social safety net. The minimum wage is too low everywhere. Welfare provides insultingly low benefits and constant humiliation, legislating people into perpetual poverty. Support for people with disabilities - including the Disability Tax Credit and the new Canada Disability Benefit - are appallingly low. We fight alongside the basic income movement, other social movements, and progressive organizations across the spectrum for all of these essential income supports to be increased to a level that affords people comfortable shelter, healthy food, and a dignified life.
The bottom line is that if you fall through the cracks in our system, a GLBI should be there to catch you. We don’t need a social safety net full of holes, but a solid floor to stand on. Thank you again for your question and I welcome further conversations with basic income advocates on this important issue.”
In late January 2026, I had several phone conversations with Avi Lewis about basic income policy. We talked about the movements’ national consensus statement, and the success in past federal elections of MP candidates taking the Basic Income Now pledge. I shared background notes with his Policy Coordinator that culminated in the Lewis statement above.
In February, NDP MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg) endorsed Lewis’s leadership bid. Gazan is well-known for advocating for a basic income at the House of Commons (Motion-46 and Bill C-233). During the leadership race, there was one candidate, who was much louder than all the others, calling for a basic income program—right now. Social worker and Campbell River City Councillor, Tanille Johnston, who surprised many coming third, talked up basic income in every debate, and in the candidates’ final convention showcase. She included “Basic Income Now” movement photos and graphics in her campaign material. A Guaranteed Livable Basic Income for Canadians was a powerful and resonant central platform in her campaign. Tanille, breaking the glass ceiling, is the first Indigenous person ever to appear on a federal leadership ballot in Canadian political history.
NEWS of interest
Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme becomes permanent
The Republic of Ireland made the Basic Income for the Arts pilot (2022) a permanent program. The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) initiative is providing €325 (£283) a week to 2,000 eligible artists
Opinion piece by John Mac Ghlionn
"The US is headed for mass unemployment, and no one is prepared". A Universal Basic Income may be the answer.
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5713876-ai-displacement-and-ubi/
ACTION REQUIRED
Update on Bill S-206, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income
November 6, 2025 in Ottawa, Senators advanced Bill S-206, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income, through second reading and to the committee stage. The Bill, sponsored and championed by Senator Kim Pate, will now be studied at the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance. Find more on the committee and its members here: Standing Senate Committee on National Finance (45th Parliament, 1st Session).
What can YOU do?
Send a personal email to an Ontario Senator expressing your support for Bill S-206.