Recent Political Manifesto Commitments to Basic Income in Canada

Abstract

We detail the political party commitments of a basic income in Canada over the last decade, a period of time in which we have seen renewed conversations about a basic income in Canada. We find that in all but one case the policy commitments lack any detail about design choices and no commitments to a basic income reference the principles of a basic income. Overall, at the political level there continues to be a lot of detail that have yet to be mapped out, detail that is important to understanding the specific commitment and whether the stated objectives could be achieved with the form of basic income proposed. In addition, the implementation of key technical elements seems poorly understood. These existing political commitments provide limited information that B.C.’s Expert Panel on Basic Income can use to inform any design decisions. This is unfortunate, as the policy debates on a basic income are unlikely to move forward in any definitive fashion without the details being flushed out.