Ontario government facing class action suit for abruptly cancelling basic income program

The Ontario government is facing a class action lawsuit for the cancellation of the province’s basic income pilot project — an abrupt move that some say caused significant emotional and financial harm.

In a statement Tuesday, Toronto law firm Cavalluzzo LLP says the class action suit, brought forward by 4,000 people who took part in the project, claims damages for the sudden cancellation in July 2018 by Doug Ford’s government. The lawsuit is seeking damages of up to $200 million.

As part of the pilot, about 4,000 participants in Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay earning less than $34,000 received just under $17,000 annually. The amount decreased by 50 cents for every dollar an individual earned through work and couples received a little more than $24,000. People with disabilities received an additional $6,000.

“Basic income gave me dignity, it gave me hope, it gave me financial stability,” said Lindsay resident Dana Bowman in the statement.

Bowman said prior to being selected to participate in the program, she was receiving Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits.

But after the cancellation of the pilot project, she has since returned to ODSP and receives about $700 per month, half of what she was receiving under the basic income pilot. Bowman said the program allowed her to help care for her grandchildren, travel to her daughter’s home for the weekend, buy groceries and be able to have a family meal.

“I was able to contribute to her dinner table, I wasn’t taking from my grandchildren,” she said. “Now I feel like I’m a burden.”

CBC Toronto reached out to the premier’s office but did not receive an immediate response.

The project, which was introduced in 2017 with the goal of studying the impacts of a basic income, was supposed to last for three years.

While there are variations on its implementation, basic income generally describes a policy in which the government gives individuals unconditional cash transfers to meet basic needs.

At the time of the cancellation, then Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Lisa MacLeod, said the project was expensive, and “clearly not the answer for Ontario families.”