Why Green MLA Hannah Bell says she plans to vote against PC's budget

Green Party House leader Hannah Bell says she can't support the first budget put forward by the minority government of Dennis King, and is questioning whether government's process of consulting opposition parties on budget priorities was done in "good faith."

The flap arises from the Green Party's request government create a commission to explore the idea of a basic guaranteed income for P.E.I., and the province's announcement of a secure income pilot project to take place in January.

Bell said the Greens were led to believe their request would receive $225,000 in funding in the new budget. But instead that money is going toward a pilot of a program that was announced by the previous Liberal government in November.

"It is really unfortunate that this government felt that in representing those two things as being the same that that might satisfy a very clear request that we had made for a commission" to study the possibility of a basic income guarantee, Bell said.

She said the new PC government has "no intention of having a commission, of having any independent process or discussing a basic income guarantee beyond what the previous government did, which was write a letter to the federal minister. That's not acceptable."

400 Islanders to receive support

Minister of Social Development and Housing Ernie Hudson provided a few further details Friday on the secure income pilot project, set to launch in January 2020.

Under the pilot, 400 Islanders will receive top-ups to their income, whether their primary source of income is social assistance, disability support, or a low-wage job.

Hudson said criteria on how participants will be chosen are still being developed, but that those participants would come from all across the province.

He said the program will target those "that have the greatest challenges with regard to accessing employment through various reasons."

Hudson said all $225,000 allocated to fund the first three months of the pilot will go directly "into the pockets of the most vulnerable Islanders."

With 400 program participants, that works out to a top-up averaging $187.50 per person per month. Income from other government sources like social assistance will not be clawed back.

A government spokesperson said no decision has been made regarding how long the pilot will continue beyond the three months getting funding in the current fiscal year.

It's asking them to talk about it properly and to take it seriously and to demonstrate that that commitment of poverty elimination is actually on their agenda.— Green MLA Hannah Bell

Hudson said the initiative is part of the previous government's poverty reduction action plan.

Bell said she supports the pilot project, but that "it's a completely different program" from what the Greens asked for and believed would be funded in the budget.

'I can't support the budget'

"The commitment to strike a commission to look at a basic income guarantee isn't asking government to actually do one. But it's asking them to talk about it properly and to take it seriously and to demonstrate that that commitment of poverty elimination is actually on their agenda," Bell said.

She said the omission "really leaves us feeling that this has not been handled in good faith.… So for me personally, no I can't support the budget."

With 11 votes in the legislature compared to 14 for the two combined opposition parties, the PCs need to get at least two opposition MLAs to support their budget.

The budget vote is considered a confidence motion and if the budget was defeated, the minority King government would fall.

Seeking support from feds

Hudson said the province would need the federal government to support a basic income guarantee, and has written to the federal minister seeking that support.

He said government "is still committed to a basic income guarantee pilot" but doesn't want to wait for the feds to respond before taking steps to "ensure that the most vulnerable Islanders had their basic needs met."

The previous Liberal government also wrote to Ottawa asking for support after all three parties in the P.E.I. Legislature provided unanimous support for a motion on that topic.

However, the response from federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos offered logistical but not financial support.

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