Bill C-223

National Framework for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Act

An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income

This enactment requires the Minister of Finance to develop a national framework to provide all persons over the age of 17 in Canada with access to a guaranteed livable basic income. It also provides for reporting requirements with respect to the framework.

Canada Disability Benefit Act

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his acknowledgement of my private member's bill, Bill C-223, to put in place a guaranteed livable basic income.

I share many of his concerns, certainly, like the very clear lack of detail in the bill, the fact that there are no protections in the bill that would actually lift anyone out of poverty and the fact that the minister has stated it would take three years before the first person would even receive the benefit when people are struggling now. This is deeply concerning.

The member seems to be really compassionate in his understanding of human rights and the need to lift people out of poverty. I am wondering if he supports a guaranteed livable basic income for individuals who currently do not have it. We know that a significant number of those with disabilities live in abject poverty, with a lack of response from consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments. We can turn the page on that, and I am wondering if my hon. colleague supports Bill C-223 to put in place a framework for a guaranteed livable basic income.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I welcome any support that lifts persons with disability out of poverty. However, the Liberals have had seven years to put it in place. There are no protections in this bill to ensure that it would lift anybody out of poverty. I put forward a bill in support of a guaranteed livable basic income, Bill C-223, supported by disability groups and organizations through the country, which would lift people out of poverty in addition to current and future government programs and support.

I wonder if my colleague is so committed to really lifting persons with disabilities out of poverty and if he will be supporting my private member's bill, Bill C-223, a framework to implement a guaranteed livable basic income.

Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Madam Speaker, throughout this debate on the budget we have been talking a lot about the affordability crisis and people being able to make ends meet. Throughout the member's speech he was talking about his constituents, meeting a lot of targets and helping indigenous people in his riding.

One of the proposals the New Democrats have put forward is for a guaranteed livable basic income, which meets the requirements of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I wonder if the member would be supportive of our colleague's bill, Bill C-223, which would support a guaranteed livable basic income.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

It's no secret that the EI system is broken. We certainly saw that when the pandemic hit. Government on the fly had to create an entirely new suite of benefits to get money to people who were unable to work in accordance with public health advice in a quick and efficient way. It's no secret that I've been pushing for a guaranteed livable basic income with Bill C-223 to make sure that everybody can live in dignity.

I will continue to push for that, but in the interim, though, the EI process needs to be fixed. You know that I've been on other committees where officials, working in the area, have called the system archaic. I know there are consultations that have been ongoing about ways to modernize this dinosaur system.

My understanding is that division 32 of the BIA will establish an employment insurance board of appeal and limit the social security tribunal. This has been a longstanding commitment of the government. We in the NDP are hearing that these changes fall short of the commitments to create truly tripartite and accountable appeal structures. I'm hoping that the officials could speak to the intent of their amendments, as well as what those amendments would actually do.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Ms. Quinn, one of the focuses of your organization deals with income bridges to address exploitation. I put forward a bill for a guaranteed livable basic income, Bill C-223. Senator Kim Pate has put forward the same bill—exactly the same language—on the Senate side, Bill S-233. Part of the reason I put forward that bill was in response to calls for justice recommendation 4.5 from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, because as you indicated, there's a direct correlation between income security and the increased risk of violence.

Would you agree with me that a guaranteed livable basic income would assist women, girls and two-spirit individuals to be safer from violence?

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

My question, again, is for the deputy grand chief.

One of the things I called for this time around with my private member's bill, Bill C-223, is to implement a guaranteed livable basic income. That was in response to call for justice 4.5 of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Why is that call for justice so critical?

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

The other thing you mentioned was the correlation between poverty and violence in terms of being able to leave violence.

In fact, I introduced a bill, Bill C-223, in response to this, in addition to current and future government supports and services, including affordable housing with rent geared to income and other kinds of supports.

Do you think a guaranteed livable basic income, based on regional differences and not requiring citizenship, would be a game-changer for helping women and diverse-gendered individuals to leave violence or have a choice to leave violence?

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

This is for Madam Sekhar.

I really appreciated your presentation on racism and language barriers in terms of accessing services.

You also spoke about income. I have proposed a bill for a guaranteed livable basic income, Bill C-223, not requiring Canadian citizenship for refugee claimants and permanent residents, as a way, in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Also, we know there's a direct correlation between violence and poverty and having women actually have a true choice.

Would you agree with me that a guaranteed livable basic income would be a protection factor for women and diverse genders trying to flee violence?

Opposition Motion—Cost of Living

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski.

The pandemic has made it very clear that we are not all in this together. We are living in a growing corporate dictatorship where some of us are on lifeboats and some of us are sailing on yachts, where the privileges of corporations are increasingly usurping the rights of workers, Mother Earth, individuals and families, and where the divide between the haves and the have-nots is growing in favour of the ultrawealthy who are becoming richer by the minute while more and more people are finding it increasingly difficult to survive.

Meanwhile, many of my constituents are barely able to make rent. The rising cost of food is making food insecurity even more common. The most basic human rights continue to be up for debate in this House while the government continues to reward its corporate friends on the backs of people, including my constituents in Winnipeg Centre. For workers, real wages are falling and Canadian billionaires are becoming richer, including a $78 billion annual increase in their wealth a year after COVID began, an unprecedented pandemic that has left more and more people scrambling to survive.

This increase in their wealth has been generated with a complete disregard for human rights, including the rights of workers. Take, for example, Sobeys, one of Canada's largest grocery chains, its parent company Empire got rid of its $2 an hour pandemic hero pay, like Loblaws and Metro. It was hero pay for workers who put their lives on the line during the pandemic so that people could continue to be fed. Adding insult to injury, most Sobeys stores are not even unionized. It is a company that has fiercely and fearlessly resisted organizing efforts, showing a total disregard for the rights of workers.

This disregard for workers by Sobeys was not because it wanted to keep food costs down for consumers. In fact, people are paying more for groceries than ever, 6.5% grocery inflation, the highest in more than a decade. It is because of greed, uncontrolled greed with CEOs laughing all the way to the bank. Sobeys just reported a quarterly profit of $203.4 million, up from $176.3 million last year, and it is not the only one laughing. In fact, Loblaws saw its fourth-quarter profit more than double compared to last year, with its net earnings available to common shareholders rising to $744 million. Metro grocery reported net profits of $207 million at the end of 2021.

It is uncontrolled greed with no shame, as we witnessed from Sobeys president and CEO Michael Medline, who boasted on a conference in December about how much money they were raking in, stating, “It was a straight-up good quarter, well-executed by our teams across the country.”

It was not “a straight-up good quarter” for my constituents who shop at FreshCo on Sargent Avenue, struggling to put food on the table because every trip to the grocery store is more expensive than the last. It was not “a straight-up good quarter” for workers who had their hero pay taken so that CEOs could line their very deep pockets with more cash. Our economic system is rigged, with corporate greed and wealth borne on the backs of individuals and families that is even impacting their ability to have their most basic human rights respected, including the right to food security.

Seriously, workers and consumers are seeing no benefits from the major grocery chains' record profits, which are rising because prices are rising. Profits are growing because they are cutting workers' pay and sometimes even violating their human rights, including the profits that were made possible by the many migrant farm workers who grow the food that is sold in these stores, some of the most exploited and mistreated workers in the country.

In fact, last December the Auditor General found that the government failed to protect migrant farm workers during COVID-19, revealing that the federal department responsible for keeping them safe did not properly enforce health and safety measures related to the pandemic. At least three migrant farm workers died from COVID, and many more became sick.

For the Liberal government to wilfully turn a blind eye to this human suffering is unacceptable, demonstrating time and time again that it is way too close to its corporate friends. What has the Liberal government done to require large companies like Sobeys, Loblaws and Metro, which have earned windfall profits during the pandemic, to share this wealth with workers and communities to ensure the human rights of workers are upheld? Nothing. In fact, the government has yet to implement a tax on excess profits of banks and insurance companies, despite promising to do so in the last election.

What are Liberals waiting for? They need to immediately implement the 3% surtax and expand it to include big grocery chains, big-box stores and big oil companies that continue to earn record profits. We need this revenue to make life easier for individuals and families who are struggling to afford to live with the skyrocketing cost of living.

It could fund, for example, a new and expanded income support program for seniors, students, people with disabilities and individuals with complex mental health needs and trauma, who are some of the hardest hit by these price increases. It could pay for a national school meal program that would ensure no child ever has to attend class on an empty stomach. It could help fund a guaranteed livable basic income like the one I am proposing in Bill C-223.

It is clearer than ever that we are not all in this together. So many people are just trying to survive at this point, while the wealthy elite have never had it so good. They are in their luxury yachts and rocket ships while more and more people are surviving in lifeboats.

Enough is enough. It is time to grow workers' paycheques, and not CEO bonuses and shareholder dividends. It is time for the biggest corporations that have made a killing during the pandemic to pay their fair share. It is time to put people before profits and give people who are struggling the support they need to survive, and not just to survive but to thrive. It is time for all people to have what they need to live in dignity.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

I only have a limited amount of time.

I agree with you. One of the things that is critical to Bill C-223 is the fact that it's in addition to current and future government programs and support, including accessible affordable housing with rents geared to income.

I'd like Madam Sharpe to respond briefly. I have a couple other critical questions I want to ask both of your organizations.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Chair.

A really deep thank you to both of you on the panel for the critical work you do.

Both of you mentioned the need for a guaranteed livable basic income. I'm actually the one who put forward Bill C-223 in response to call for justice 4.5 to implement a guaranteed livable basic income as a way to help mitigate the crisis of violence against indigenous women and girls. Senator Kim Pate currently has Bill S-233, which is being debated in the Senate. It's exactly the same bill with exactly the same wording in both houses of Parliament. we're working jointly on this initiative.

Madam Sharpe and Madam Muise, can you briefly explain why you support the need for a guaranteed livable basic income?

[Gertie Mai Muise]

Okay, I see.

The barriers to support for indigenous women and girls, 2-spirit and LGBTQIA, and men and boys in our community are intersectoral. Every area of work, the determinants of health, all of those things that have an impact on people's vulnerability...each of those systems trying to respond and help has barriers in them. One of the ways we've found that works to help improve the jurisdictional wrangling and the intersectoral lack of coordination—all of those things—is to have community-based teams that navigate those systems to encourage coordination and really encourage linkages to culture-based resources, like traditional knowledge holders, traditional teachers, family and kid networks, and people who've come through systems and survived.

It's really critical to understand barriers, because the way the community understands barriers is very different from what western service systems and service structures see as barriers to helping our communities. That's why it's so critical for any investments to land inside communities with organizations that are indigenous-led, indigenous-governed and indigenous-informed. Now we are seeing a lot of awareness around what the real barriers are, especially during the pandemic. I think we've seen a new understanding among all the stakeholders in the field. There could be some education around it. I think it's always helpful for us to understand what keeps systemic racism at play, and how to interrupt that and create new pathways for safety and wellness.

We have a lot to say on that, and I think our longer brief went into some of those barriers. Actually, when I look at the brief, it has some legislative pieces we are recommending to support Bill C-223, an act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income. That was one of the legislative pieces that we had and are currently advancing.

Old Age Security Act

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member made a comment wondering why the NDP is always running around fixing Liberal mistakes. Well, it is because the NDP is focused on one thing, and that is helping Canadians. When the pandemic first hit, people were suffering. It was the NDP that pushed for supports for seniors and people with disabilities. The Liberals were not there and the Conservatives were not there. It was the NDP that was pushing for that.

If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that we have the ability in the House to make decisions to help Canadians, and we have the capacity to do that. One thing that would really accomplish that, which would go a long way to help seniors and people with disabilities, is a guaranteed livable basic income. We have a private member's bill on that, Bill C-223, which is on the docket.

I am wondering, if Conservatives care about seniors, if they will support that bill.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy that we are debating this bill this evening. It is a great step in the right direction. However, this bill alone will not resolve the inequality and poverty that seniors are experiencing. We know that right here in Canada one-third of women over the age of 65 who are single are living in poverty. This is unacceptable. In my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith I am hearing from constituents who are seniors and are experiencing poverty in so many ways, such as losing their homes or being unable to keep food in their fridge.

I wonder if the member would agree that supporting this bill and this bill alone will not lift seniors out of poverty. Will he join the many constituents in my riding who are asking for us to support Bill C-223 for a guaranteed livable basic income?

Government Business No. 7—Proceedings on Bill C-12

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, we are here because Canada's poorest working seniors have been cruelly punished by the government simply for receiving legitimate pandemic supports, as any other working Canadian received.

My New Democrat colleagues and I have been tirelessly raising this issue in the House. I am grateful that the government is finally beginning to address this issue, but it is important to acknowledge the impact that the government's inaction over the past year has had, and the dire circumstances that seniors are currently facing because of the government's mistake and because of its inaction following it.

We have heard stories from across the country. I have spoken to many seniors in my riding of Victoria who have been impacted. I have shared a number of their stories in the House about the struggles they have faced. They have been unable to afford rent. Seniors have been living in motels or living in their cars and experiencing homelessness, hunger and the inability to pay for essential medication because the government spent months knowing that this problem existed but refusing to take urgently needed action.

The Liberal government has known about the GIS-CERB conflict since May, 2021, but it did not bother fixing it until New Democrats raised the issue, again and again, for months. Even before the government called an unnecessary election, we raised the urgency of this issue. We kept raising it, week after week and month after month. With each passing week, and each passing month, more seniors in our ridings were unable to meet their basic needs.

Seniors have shared that this is not just a financial issue. It is also a health issue. When seniors have to choose between medication and food, when they are forced to sleep out in the cold, when they cannot afford transportation to appointments or when they are living with the ever-present threat of eviction, they experience financial hardship, but they also experience medical and mental health crises, depression and suicide.

I support this bill because it finally begins to address the issue, but I am compelled to speak for the seniors who have suffered over the past year.

I think it is also important to acknowledge the fact that the government is not addressing the same conflict that exists with the Canada child benefit. Bill C-12 fixes the GIS clawback for vulnerable seniors, but for low-income families who received pandemic income supports, such as CERB or CRB, the Canada child benefit will still be clawed back next year because Bill C-12 is specific to GIS and not for income-tested benefits.

We are going to have to spend months pushing the government to address how this impacts families. We need a similar solution to the clawback for low-income families. I am glad this bill will be moving forward, because it is going to support seniors. However, it is important to also acknowledge that the guaranteed income supplement does not lift seniors out of poverty. Seniors receiving the GIS are still considered to be living below the poverty line. The GIS, except in some very rare cases, does not actually bring income above the poverty level.

This is why my NDP colleagues and I are pushing for a guaranteed livable basic income. It is why the member for Winnipeg Centre introduced Bill C-223, which, if passed, would establish the first national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income. I want to give a shout-out to Basic Income Victoria BC and UBI Works for their advocacy on this critical issue. We have a responsibility to lift people out of poverty and to ensure that seniors, people with disabilities and single parents can meet their basic needs and live in dignity.

We need a basic guaranteed livable income that would make a world of difference for seniors on fixed incomes. We should also create a pension advocacy commission to increase and enhance CPP, OAS and GIS.

I want to take a moment, also, to talk about an organization in my riding. Fateh Care started operating during the pandemic. It provides support for seniors, those living with disabilities, people quarantining and people who are looking for a helping hand when they do not know where else to go. Fateh Care was founded by an incredible family, Harjas and Dr. Navneet Popli. It is one of a kind in Canada. It is a free mobile food bank, and it is available to all those who are struggling to afford or access food, who often do not have transportation to go out and buy it.

I went with Harjas to help deliver food in the mobile food bank, and it was so clear that people in our community are struggling. I want to thank Fateh Care for all the support it gives to seniors in need.

I also want to call on the government to address the underlying causes of food insecurity for seniors, and to commit to a guaranteed livable basic income. Earlier today, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons mentioned the need to move this expeditiously through Parliament, and this is what we are debating right now. He said he wished this had been done earlier. Wow. I wish that he had felt that urgency months ago.

The government knew about this issue a year ago. The Liberals failed to address it. We raised this issue many times in the House. After learning about the problem, and after hearing from the NDP advocating for seniors and hearing about the impacts on seniors across the country, the government called an unnecessary election. When we came back to the House, we raised it again and again.

There is a senior in my riding who lost their apartment because of this delay. There is a senior who lost their provincial rental assistance because of this mistake. It requires them to be on the GIS to receive these benefits. There are seniors struggling to pay for essential medication. How can the government explain the delay when speaking to these seniors?

The need for this bill underlines the fact that the government made a mistake. I understand that mistakes happen, but what I do not understand is why the government waited this long to correct its mistake. Why was the government okay letting seniors suffer for a year? More than that, why is the government okay letting seniors suffer year after year?

Even with this fix, too many seniors are living below the poverty line. There is a solution: Ensure they have a guaranteed livable basic income. Close loopholes in offshore tax havens. Ensure multi-millionaires are paying their fair share, and ensure seniors and all members of our communities can live in dignity.