N.S. needs guaranteed basic income because ‘too many people are suffering’: advocate

Nova Scotia is boosting the minimum wage to $17 an hour next fall.

“We need basic income because too many people in Nova Scotia today are suffering,” said Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, the chair of advocacy group Basic Income Nova Scotia, at a legislative committee on Tuesday.

She declared the province’s poverty rates too concerning for inaction, downplaying the provincial government’s opposition of a guaranteed basic income due to the cost.

“Poverty rates, food insecurity and food bank use are all rising,” she said. “Housing prices are out of reach for many, and non-market housing levels are far too low.”

The poverty rates are on government’s radar.

“Nova Scotia’s not traditionally fared well in either general poverty measures or for child poverty-specific measures relative to the rest of Canada,” said Frazer Egerton, the department’s executive lead of strategic initiatives.

“It’s probably something that does not sit well with anyone around this table.”

The most recent data, from 2023, pegs Nova Scotia’s general poverty rate at 11.5 per cent, he said. That ranks fifth among provinces.

He said Nova Scotia’s poverty rates are still “stubbornly high,” but the child poverty rate has “declined significantly” over 10 years from around 20 per cent to about 11 or 12 per cent now.

Bird said arguments that fewer people would work and that the cost of basic needs would go up with the government-backed program are simply not true.

She said a newer demographic is included in the most vulnerable to poverty.

“The traditionally marginalized, such as Indigenous people, African Nova Scotians, the disabled and perhaps surprisingly, single adults between the ages of 18 and 64,” she said.

But Craig Beaton was pretty clear when it comes to the government’s view on a guaranteed basic income.

“It’s not something that we’re considering right now,” said Beaton, the deputy minister for opportunities and social development.

He says that’s mainly because of the cost of such a program.

Two cost estimates from the parliamentary budget officer were referenced on Tuesday, specific to Nova Scotia.

One projected a $1.5-billion price tag, while another costed the program at nearly $2.6 billion – depending on the definition of ‘family.’

It would cover personal necessities such as housing, food and other necessities.

By comparison, Beaton said the department’s entire budget is about $1.7 billion.

“It would really mean basically reducing all of the benefits that we currently provide and having one streamlined process,” Beaton said.

He said a guaranteed income would require “a dance partner,” pointing to the federal government.

But Basic Income Nova Scotia says the province spends about $2 billion per year on poverty measures as it is.

The deputy minister said the government is focused on targeted supports, such as rent supplements, heating assistance rebates and disability supports.

Beaton also pointed to tax cuts as a measure to help people.

But advocates pointed to the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and Old Age Security pension (OAS) for seniors as proof that guaranteed incomes reduce poverty and societal costs.

“When the two of them were implemented, the rate of poverty dropped dramatically for people who are that age,” said Bird.

Minimum wage hikes

On Tuesday, Nova Scotia announced two minimum wage increases over the next year, totalling a 50-cent hike.

The current rate of $16.50 will rise to $16.75 per hour on April 1; and then to $17.00 on Oct. 1.

That’s still more than $10 shy of the ‘living wage,’ according to a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

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