Mr. Speaker, the universal basic income, UBI, is an expensive, risky and untested experiment that will leave millions of Canadians behind as we continue to battle the pandemic.
An extensive study was done by economists from three of Canada's leading universities. UBI is “not the best policy option to effectively tackle poverty”. It will instead leave seniors, people with disabilities, youth aging out of care and low-income Canadians worse off. Further, we know that UBI is estimated to cost an additional $93 billion annually.
Will the Prime Minister be cutting critical social programs or raising taxes to fund this risky experiment, or both?