'They don't have a plan' — Kathleen Wynne criticizes Ford government over Basic Income

Former premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking at an event in Hamilton Monday, criticized the provincial government's decision to end the pilot program that gave 4,000 people in Ontario a guaranteed basic income.

"They don't have a plan," Wynne said to a crowded room at the Hamilton Central Library filled with people who benefited from the program.

"One of the things about this current government, you will find, is that they do things really fast because they don't study anything. They don't look at anything. They don't look for evidence."

They were there, invited by the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, to celebrate the program and the people who participated. 

I'm fighting back tears. I don't know how everyone else is feeling... That notion that people choose to live in poverty is so wrong and so stupid.- Kathleen Wynne, MPP Don Valley West 

Wynne celebrated along with the recipients but said she had some regrets. She said she wished she had implemented the program sooner.

"I'm fighting back tears. I don't know how everyone else is feeling," Wynne said. "That notion that people choose to live in poverty is so wrong and so stupid."

Premier Doug Ford's government announced last summer that they would end the program. Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said the project was expensive, and "clearly not the answer for Ontario families."

People in the program received up to $16,989 per year for a single person, less 50 per cent of any earned income, and $24,027 for a couple. People with disabilities received an additional $6,000. 

Basic Income was an investment: Wynne

Wynne called the program an investment. 

 "We are spending billions of dollars in social assistance in this province. We're just doing it as smartly as we should. This is about doing things better."

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, said "It's really the first time, certainly since the election, we've had the chance to hear from [Wynne] about her thoughts on the impact of the pilot."

Ontario's basic income pilot project officially ended this week. The last cheques went out Sunday after the Ford government broke a campaign promise and cancelled it in July.

About 4,000 people were involved, in communities including Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Lindsay, Brantford and Brant County. According to the data from a questionnaire sent out for the province by St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and released in January, thirty-three per cent of the respondents in the program identified themselves as currently employed. Twenty per cent said they were unemployed and 47 per cent who were "not in the labour force."

The intention was to have a three-year study, however, the Ford government's decision to scrap the project early left participants feeling shocked, betrayed and robbed of dignity.

At Monday's event, Cooper said they wanted to show appreciation for those who participated in the pilot.

"Even though things didn't turn out the way people expected... we really think the pilot itself and the people who were participating in it made a huge difference," he said. "We've seen some really inspiring and important stories emerge."

Alana Baltzer, a basic income recipient from Hamilton joined Wynne on stage after her speech to show her gratitude. "It is especially gratifying to know that politicians were listening to us. Thank you."