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One of the federal Liberal Party’s key spokespersons on economic issues, Scott Brison, says his party won’t discount the idea of implementing a basic income guarantee, but says there are other tools at a government’s disposal for addressing inequality.
The Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants in Nova Scotia, Brison also serves as the Liberals’ critic for finance and national revenue.
“When it all comes down to it, the issue is income inequality,” says Brison, “and it’s a very real problem.”
“My fear is that if inequality is allowed to continue and deepen, it increasingly affects equality of opportunity, too. There will be more people who are born into economic advantage versus people who aren’t,” causing deepening harm to families and to society, says Brison, who also serves as vice-chair of the House of Commons standing committee on finance.
He tells Leaders and Legacies the social and economic consequences of inequality are catastrophic. As well, he is concerned about the trends as shown by a recent study from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The study shows that job quality has fallen to its lowest level in more than 20 years. The data — over 25 years’ worth – shows the growth of part-time work versus full-time work, self-employment versus traditional paid work, and trends in compensation packages.
While noting he is whole-heartedly committed to reducing income inequality, Brison wouldn’t say whether he favours a basic income guarantee, saying the Liberals are not “espousing a specific path right now.”
Instead, he points to two existing tools already at a government’s disposal – the Child Tax Benefit and the Working Income Tax Benefit, for the working poor.
He says these two measures alone – if properly funded – would go a long way to reducing inequality in Canada.
“So there are ways we can achieve a positive effect, even within our existing tax system.”
Although Brison is not committing to a basic income guarantee, the Liberal Party itself has laid some groundwork, should they choose to go this route.
At a recent Liberal policy convention, resolution number 97 (Basic Income Supplement: Testing a Dignified Approach to Income Security for Working-age Canadians) and resolution number 100 (Creating a Basic Annual Income to be Designed and Implemented for a Fair Economy), were both adopted by federal Liberal delegates.
This has longtime Liberal heavyweights, like Senator Art Eggleton, very happy.
“I take some delight in what happened at the Liberal convention in the spring,” Eggleton previously told Leaders and Legacies. “And when I recently saw Justin (Trudeau) I reminded him of that — and I told him he should promise” that Liberals will make this a reality.
Brison says serious consideration of a basic income guarantee in Canada can be traced as far back as the late 1960s, when Conservative leader Robert Stanfield promised to give it his attention if elected. During this same timeframe, at a Conservative policy convention in 1969, a keen 19-year-old named Hugh Segal first learned about the idea of basic income guarantee. It is a cause the former senator has never let go of, becoming the Tories’ standard bearer on this issue.
Even into the 1980s, the Macdonald commission – famous for its endorsement of free trade – also recommended a basic income guarantee. While Brian Mulroney’s government took up the cause of free trade, making it their signature issue, the recommendation of a basic income guarantee was not seized upon.
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