Is Windsor-Essex ready for a guaranteed basic income? This senator says it's time

CBC

a day ago

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Windsor had the dubious distinction of having the second highest unemployment in the country last month — and that's among the reasons our community would benefit from a universal basic income, according to a Canadian senator.
In late May, Sen. Kim Pate introduced Bill S-206, which calls upon the federal government to develop a financial framework for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income.
"How can we actually weave a safety net that leaves no one behind?" Pate said. "This bill is one strand in a social and economic fabric that would help us rebuild."
Statistics Canada says Windsor's unemployment rate in May was 10.8 per cent. Only Peterborough had it harder with an unemployment rate of 11.7 per cent.
And the situation could worsen in the near future: Pate says the growing reality of job losses due to the trade war and artificial intelligence technology means talking about a guaranteed income in Canada is more relevant than ever.
"At a time like now, when we're facing the threat from the United States, when we're facing the threat of A.I., when we're facing challenges to industry — it strikes me that it's a perfect time for us to develop a plan that actually leaves nobody behind," Pate said.
Lorraine Goddard, CEO of United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County, also believes the community would benefit from a guaranteed livable basic income — because she feels the current system isn't providing people with the support they need to improve their situations.
"Social assistance programs keep people in poverty. They don't give people enough to live," Goddard said. "You're just living moment to moment in deprivation mode."
"I see so many families and children really struggling... If you could help a family get that basic income, get them stabilized, let them help their children get through school successfully — then you could see, in 10 years, a transformation in this community."
It's not the first time Pate has advocated for a guaranteed basic income. In 2021, she introduced a similar bill — S-233. But progress on that bill ended with the prorogation of Parliament in January 2025. "It died on the order paper," Pate admitted.
Bill S-206 is entering its second reading in the Senate. It will need to survive multiple readings in the House of Commons to become law. It's still too early for Pate's idea to involve actual numbers and policy.
But in 2017, the Province of Ontario experimented with a pilot project that provided a basic income to around 4,000 low-income people in Hamilton, Thunder Bay, and Lindsay.
That project offered approximately $17,000 a year to single individuals, and $24,000 to couples. The amount was reduced by 50 cents for every dollar earned through work.
Pate said a federal program could have a similar system — adjusted for the current economy.
"Let's streamline this process," she said. "Make it universally accessible to people once they drop below a set income. Let's provide the resources the people need to rebound out (of poverty). Not just stay stuck in it."
Critics like Franco Terrazzano, director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, believe that such a program is something the country simply can't afford.
"You've got to remember: The federal government is broke. It's more than a trillion dollars in debt," Terrazzano said.
A universal basic income in Canada would be "massively expensive," Terrazzano said. "Even in the best case scenario, this would cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars every single year... This would be big time tax increases for Canadians who are already struggling."
Indeed, in the Parliamentary Budget Officer's study of Bill S-206, the gross cost of implementation is estimated at $107 billion.
But Pate pointed out that the PBO's estimate is for the gross cost: The net cost could be as low as $3 billion, taking into account potential long-term savings in existing social assistance, health care, and the legal system.
As an example, Pate cited the work of Canadian economist Evelyn Forget, who found that low-income people in a Manitoba community were inducing massive costs at their local emergency room — because they didn't have preventative health care and proper nutrition.
"If we looked at what we actually spend now on those initiatives, the administration alone would cover a lot of costs," Pate suggested. "[The PBO] has very much said we would likely see many cost savings, particularly in health care and the criminal legal system."
According to Terrazzano, the reality is that "if you pay people not to work, fewer people will end up working."
Meanwhile, Pate believes the main obstacle to adopting a guaranteed livable basic income isn't finding the funding or the political will — it's adjusting attitudes.
"The biggest barrier to implementing this kind of approach is the view that poor people somehow will waste the money or defraud the system," Pate said.
"It's the stigma that attaches to poor people, the presumption that it's their own fault... a presumption that there are some people who deserve to be supported — and some who don't."
Patrick Clark is a Windsor civil lawyer who earned his master's degree in political science from the University of Windsor with a 2021 paper titled The Answer to Poverty: A Universal Basic Income in Canada.
Four years later, Clark says his views on the issue haven't changed: "That's the big key, moving forward: To put in place a system that essentially helps those who no longer can help themselves.
"Right now, we have a situation where there are a lot of people who are unable to cover their basic needs — while we see the corporations at the top continue to increase prices. You'll find people falling further and further behind."