e-211 (Social benefits)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• Income inequality in Canada is reaching levels not seen in decades;
• The cost of administering many separate income support programs is high;
• Some current income supports and social assistance create a disincentive to work, by punishing recipients or clawing back benefits should they get part-time work;
• Income inequality and poverty have been related to countless negative outcomes, especially for children, including: mental and physical health problems, as well as lifetime educational and employment outcomes and life expectancy;
• The concept of a guaranteed minimum income, or "Mincome" has been proposed, with support from across the political spectrum;
• The idea of Mincome has been championed by former Senator Hugh Segal, and endorsed by the late Nobel-Prize winning economist Milton Friedman, who called it the "negative income tax.";
• A Mincome pilot project in Dauphin Manitoba was launched in the 1970s, co-funded by the Federal and Provincial governments; and
• The data from this experiment showed many significant improvements, including: better school attendance, improved mental and physical health outcomes, and less use of the health care system.