Citizen's Income was formed in February 2007. As of today, we've built a website, created a newsletter, held several forums, and done a poster campaign. It's a very small office with another organization. We have no money and we're not looking hard for funding at this time. We borrowed the name Citizen's Income from a group in the United Kingdom.
We're part of a small but growing national network of groups who have come to the conclusion that the only way to end poverty is to give everybody enough money so that they're not poor. I expect you've already heard from these groups, or will soon hear from them.
While this movement is in an embryonic stage in Canada, it's well developed in many other countries. As someone who has advocated for a guaranteed income for over 30 years, often in the face of ridicule and hostility, I find the developments of the past few years to be very exciting. I think you should get used to hearing about Citizen's Income, Livable Income for Everyone, and Basic Income Earth Network. All the people involved in Citizen's Income are on disability or in the flexibilized labour market. Most of us don't get out much, but we're very offended by the kind of people who presume to speak for us. How about, instead of 25 in 5, as the province of Ontario and the social agencies are talking about, we have poverty eliminated 100 in zero? There's no practical reason why it can't be done.
I don't make a fancy salary from a social agency that lobbies governments to funnel more money to the poverty industry. We would like the federal government to threaten to cancel present arrangements with the provinces on social provisions. We would also like to see the government reinstate the Canada assistance plan, with two modifications. Unless the punitive aspects of social welfare in many provinces are removed, the two modifications are, first, to precisely define need, and second, to make provincial officials criminally responsible for failing to provide the necessities of life to everybody in their jurisdiction. We have people literally starving to death in this country, and it's outrageous.
Only the federal government can establish a guaranteed income. We also need to provide funds to establish citizen study groups in all areas of the country. The purpose will be to provide government with feedback about social policies, especially income guarantees. You should have the Ministry of Human Resources and Skills Development prepare options for implementing a guaranteed income in Canada, which can then be discussed by all these different citizen study groups. We're sure the committee can see that this method of consulting the public is superior to letting self-interested social agencies speak for the public.
That's all I have to say. I await your questions.