Ontario’s basic income pilot project is already being denounced as a placebo by some of its loudest and most loyal cheerleaders before the government has even landed on its design.

That’s what is intimated between the lines of the latest discussion paper, according to some of the people that the government is seeking feedback from before it settles on a model for the three-year basic income experiment. The government has earmarked $25 million for each year.

The province had enlisted former senator Hugh Segal to write a report that came with tailored recommendations. His 100-page paper was publicly released earlier this year, but now that people have been formally invited to present their own ideas on where and to whom a guaranteed annual income experiment should pivot, it seems the government may be stalling, and not least because there is a general election 18 months hence, according to some like Peter Clutterbuck of the Social Planning Network of Ontario.

“We're worried [the government] is deflecting off of the immediate increases that are needed over the next two budgets," Clutterbuck told QP Briefing at the second public consultation meeting hosted by Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek last week in Scarborough.

Clutterbuck pointed out that the questions the government is asking in the paper are vague and don't adequately reflect the nuances of Segal's recommendations, which makes for "superficial" consultation. The message is an ominous one, he said, and has deflated some in the basic income claque.

"It may serve their purposes, but it would be good if there was more clarity between what the government's consultation is about and whether it's about Mr. Segal's report, or about basic income in general," he added.

But it's kind of the point that the discussion paper varies widely and wildly, Jaczek told QP Briefing at the Scarborough meeting. She said there are many options on the table, and because Segal has suggested testing different models, it appears the government may be headed down that route.

Segal wants a single adult Ontarian to receive $1,320 a month, with an extra $500 for those in need of disability support. That's a significant increase from the current maximum of $706 a month, a figure critics have said hardly makes up the cost of living, and for which many are first required to jump through bureaucratic hoops.

Most participants told the government its payout should be at least enough to make up the rest of the way to the poverty line, which varies based on different demographics in Ontario, but hovers around $20,000 a year for a single adult. Segal’s report suggested a basic income make up at least 75 per cent of the way to the poverty line, otherwise known as the “low-income measure,” but he also said different models should be rolled out in at least three locations, one of which would test out the full 100-per-cent markup.

Jaczek has earmarked $25 million for each of the three years of its test, but little else is known at this point, in particular, how the government will pay for it. She dismissed an alarm raised by the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union that funding a basic income will inevitably lead to privatization of government-run social services, should the three-year experiment lead to provincewide implementation.

However, Jaczek cited past basic income experiments in other jurisdictions, when the thinking was that a well-oiled basic income machine may not require as much of an an administrative burden, therefore enabling the governments to cut some services and put that cash toward increasing benefits for recipients. The underlying theory behind a basic income is that it will also ease the burden on other social programming, such as health care.

Jaczek added she has heard the concerns that immediate help is needed to address the current social assistance system, and is asking the Treasury Board to increase the rates during ongoing consultations for the 2016-17 budget. (The government has been indexing those rates to inflation.)

"We're not going to be idle. Just because it's a three-year pilot doesn't mean that we're in any way neglecting the need to increase rates and have other supports," she said.

Segal's report recommended the pilot swap Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program with a basic income, and immediately almost double welfare rates.

People at the Scarborough meeting also said the government should consider options for emergency funds and special occasions and events, like more benefits for young children to get school supplies in the fall, or perhaps providing vouchers for frozen turkeys during the holidays.

The deadline for public feedback closes Jan. 31, , and the government is expected to lay out a plan later that spring.

Correction: This story has been edited from its original version to clarify the minister only pointed to past basic income experiments in which easing the burden on social service administration was touted as incentive, and not the direction her government is headed.

Basic income pilot denounced as a placebo at public meeting

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