The CERB program has renewed interest in the possibility of Universal Basic Income, otherwise known as UBI, for Canadian households.
CERB payments have been available since March 2020, so only 6 months, but community organizations are already noticing an effect on New Brunswick households.
Food For All NB director Laura Reinsborough says that the guaranteed income may be impacting food insecurity for low-income families.
L: Right now we see a heightened public interest, a more sophisticated public conversation, on food systems and food security. It is highlighting what we were already seeing happening before. There is one interesting new piece to it that I would add, is that we’re seeing different income supports being offered primarily through the federal government but also some through provincial government like the CERB. And that is showing, anecdotally, from food banks in New Brunswick that there is not as much increase, in fact, in some cases there’s a decrease among Food Bank usage. So that’s a very interesting revelation. I think that we will need to look at that data more closely and better understand that through a full analysis, but there is a research question that comes up through there about this link that we know exists, that is a very direct link between income and food insecurity at the household level. So when people can’t afford food it’s because of their income, that’s written into it that they can’t afford it. So that economic access to food, that financial access, is huge. What we’re seeing now is a very different response from federal government to our economic systems and ensuring that different programs are introduced to support that income floor. So that’s a really new piece that we haven’t had enough time and enough data to yet understand. But I’m very curious to see what we learn from this moment about how income support can affect food insecurity.
M: Yeah, there’s been a lot more talk just with the CERB, or the CESB depending on if you’re a student or not, about how universal basic income could potentially be a reality or just talking about what UBI is. Would there be enough interest, do you think, in researching how a universal basic income could affect a household or a population’s food security?
L: I’m hearing that more and more. The leading research team on household food insecurity in Canada is PROOF out of the University of Toronto. That’s usually where their arguments go, is that because it is directly related to income, there is a lot of opportunity for guaranteed livable income or universal basic income to affect that. So, again, I think it’s probably too early for them to have released anything on this through the pandemic, but I think they’re watching that closely. I also want to make the distinction that that’s talking about, can New Brunswickers afford to access food and that is where we identify what household food insecurity is. But the government press release that was made recently is not really looking at that piece of it, looking more at our food system and whether it can provide a resilient supply. And part of what they’ve identified in this press release is that we’re so import dependent in our current food system. And fortunately, through the pandemic, that system of importing has not faced much disruption. But we do know that if ever that were to be disrupted, that would cause an enormous barrier for New Brunswickers to access food.
Reinsborough says that these findings remain hypotheses for now, but awaits for research to be conducted and released to the public.
An example of Universal Basic Income in Canada’s recent history was the Ontario Basic Income Pilot Project in 2018.
The project had four thousand participants and was meant to run for three years, but was cancelled after just 10 months.
Sociological research concluded the following themes in participants:
1) a desire among participants to work and be financially independent,
2) traditional welfare payments are extremely low and do not cover basic necessities, while basic income is higher and does cover these necessities,
3) beyond the basic differences in benefit amount, the conditional nature of traditional welfare programs has significant repercussions for recipients, and
4) basic income has facilitated long-term financial planning.
More information about Basic Income can be found on basicincomecanada.org.
By Meg Cunningham
