THUNDER BAY – Proponents of Ontario’s now cancelled basic income pilot project descended on the constituency office of Liberal MP and cabinet minister Patty Hajdu on Friday afternoon, hoping she’d help convince the federal government to pick up the slack.
They left somewhat disappointed.
Hajdu told the group social assistance is under the jurisdiction of the province, and there was little she could do to convince Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford to change his mind.
On top of that, Hajdu said there may be a better way.
“I don’t know if necessarily basic income is the right approach,” she said, about 10 sign-toting advocates of the project gathered in her Red River Road office, suggesting corporations have a role to play in creating jobs that can support people and be willing to pay their fair share, while adding governments face a constant balancing act, trying to pay for services while also being fiscally responsible to the taxpayer.
Fifty-year-old Trevor Anderson made an emotional plea to Hajdu, holding back tears as he told her of his experience with the pilot project, which Ford’s government has promised to wind down by the end of March 2019.
A dyslexic who also has a plate in his hand because of a snowmobile crash, Anderson said he’s unable to hold jobs once employers learn he is unable to read or write.
He’s terrified what will happen when the basic income project runs out, adding he starved himself on the $1,110 a month he received on disability, paying $900 a month for rent alone.
“Starving is not fun,” Anderson said.
“We were born this way. How are we supposed to do this? There are days when I’m going to myself, maybe I need someone to come help me at me at my house, someone to help me learn how to live again. Because I ain’t living right now.”
Anderson said he saw a noticeable improvement in his health, putting on 40 pounds.
“I’m eating properly. I’m getting the proper fruits and vegetables now. I’ve just been stocking up food because I don’t want to starve again again.”
Hajdu listened, but said the federal government’s role was better suited to making investments in things like affordable housing and various allowances, not to mention improving federal labour standards, to help the country’s vulnerable workers.
“It’s within our jurisdictional power to do,” said Hajdu, the former executive director of Shelter House, a facility housing dozens of Thunder Bay’s homeless.
“The challenge is that what we’re talking about is a form of social assistance that is provincial and is in the jurisdiction of the province. I am your advocate, I hear your pain and I went into politics because I do believe there’s a better way. But I went into federal politics because I also wanted to work on those structural problems like housing.”
Hajdu added she really hoped the protestors directed their anger fully at the Ford government.
“They are the folks who are making these decisions. I’m going to continue to call it out. I have been calling it out. I will do what I can within the jurisdiction I have that when we do things that we focus on the needs of the most vulnerable people in the community.”
Hajdu added it would be tough for Ottawa to take a three-community project from Ontario and make it a national program, noting it would cost billions. The project would have cost Ontario taxpayers an estimated $50 million to implement each year.
