Ontario proposes major test of guaranteed minimal annual income plan

Ontario is poised to become ground zero for what may be the largest pilot project yet to test the notion of a basic income in North America.

In a discussion paper released Thursday, Ontario’s special adviser on basic income suggests topping up incomes of the working poor and replacing the province’s meagre and rule-bound social assistance program with a monthly payment of at least $1,320 for a single person, or about 75 per cent of the poverty line.

I see this as a trial study of economic systems that will be forced to emerge widely in the near future to supply consumption to keep economies afloat as most workers are replaced by robotics and other computerized technology.