A new cross-Canada coalition of feminist organizations is calling on all federal parties to include a basic income guarantee in their platforms as a policy commitment.
Women’s Network P.E.I. is one of the groups advocating for basic income to be a national election issue.
“P.E.I. has kind of been the hub of the basic income movement in Canada for many years,” said Jillian Kilfoil, the executive director of Women’s Network P.E.I.
Leveraging that energy on P.E.I. and using it to stir up momentum across the country is one of the goals of the coalition’s campaign, she said.
Discussion around a basic income is nothing new on P.E.I. A detailed report released in 2023 said such a program would drop the poverty rate in the province from 10 per cent to two per cent.
The report recommends a basic income amount to 85 per cent of the official poverty line in Canada. Based on the time …