Hamilton Chamber Encourages Federal Government to Consider Mayors’ Request

· by Bianca Caramento

The Mayors of Hamilton, Brantford, Kawartha Lakes, and Thunder Bay have written a joint letter, asking the Federal Government to assume oversight of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot project.

The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce strongly encourages the Federal Government to consider this request.

The economy has and will continue to drastically change in the years ahead. With developing technologies and increased automation, government policy needs to adapt in order to respond to potential disruptions in the labour market.

If the Ontario Basic Income Pilot project had reached its planned conclusion, it would have provided lawmakers the data they need to evaluate the merit of this approach to managing market disruption. It was intended to help guide evidence-based policy-making. That is why we, in conjunction with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, were supportive of the pilot and interested in its outcome.

Federal oversight of the pilot would revive the critical information generated over the full course of the experiment.

Timeline of events:

  1. March 2016: Provincial Government of Ontario commits to creating a Basic Income Pilot Project
  2. April 2017: Provincial Government of Ontario announces the roll out of the pilot, listing Hamilton as one of the participating communities
  3. April 2018: The first phase of the pilot to enroll participants was successfully completed
  4. July 2018: Provincial Government of Ontario announces the cancellation of the pilot program
  5. March 2019: Those participating in Ontario’s basic income pilot will receive their last payment from the provincial government

As of March 2019, those participating in the Ontario Basic Income Pilot project will receive their last payment from the provincial government. Federal support is required, in order to continue the pilot project thereafter.

 

For more information please contact: Bianca Caramento | Policy Analyst | Hamilton Chamber of Commerce | t: 905-522-1151 ext: 230 | e: b.caramento@hamiltonchamber.ca