Quebec basic income program begins, but advocates say many low-income people excluded
CTV
Anti-poverty activists are praising the Quebec basic income program as a good step toward helping people meet their basic needs — but say strict eligibility criteria exclude many of the province’s lowest-income residents.
For the first time in many years, Monique Toutant thinks she might be able to buy herself some better groceries and a few new clothes.
As a longtime social assistance recipient, the 62-year-old Quebec City resident is used to pinching pennies, buying the strict minimum at the grocery store and saving for months for every purchase. She calls it "everyday stress.”
“Will I have enough money to get through the month? Will I have enough money to eat well? Will I have enough money because I have a doctor’s appointment in two days and I have to pay a bus ticket?” she said in a phone interview.
Toutant, who can't work because of acute rheumatoid arthritis that prevents her from sitting or standing for long periods, is facing a little less hardship after her monthly cheque rose by more than $300, to $1,548, at the beginning of January with the launch of the Quebec government's basic income program.
The program, aimed at 84,000 Quebecers with a “severely limited capacity for employment” such as a chronic illness or mental health condition, will provide an increase of more than 28 per cent for a single person, the government says. Just as importantly, they will also have the ability to earn about $14,500 a year in wages — up from $2,400 a year — and have up to $20,000 in savings, all without losing benefits. They will also be able to live with a partner who earns a small paycheque without seeing their benefits clawed back.
The program, which will cost about $1.5 billion a year, allows recipients "to benefit from one of the highest disposable incomes for people on social assistance in Canada," the province's Labour and Social Solidarity Department said in an email.
Anti-poverty activists are praising the program as a good step toward helping people meet their basic needs — but say strict eligibility criteria exclude many of the province’s lowest-income residents.
