Tracey Crosson says she ate healthier, slept better and had more energy when she was receiving basic income payments from the Ontario government.
Now, she’s left with $22 every month after paying rent and relies on Meals on Wheels.
Crosson is just one of the thousands of people impacted after the province scrapped the basic income pilot project (OBI) nearly six years ago. The early cancellation of the program in 2018 is behind a class-action lawsuit that was certified by a Superior Court judge on March 4.
“When I was on the OBI, I got to go and get a steak for $10 and have that for dinner once a month,” said Crosson, who participated in the program in Thunder Bay and now lives in Toronto for better access to medical care. “Now, I don’t have the luxury for steak and hamburger and all that stuff.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Crosson is just one of the thousands of people impacted after the province scrapped the basic income pilot project (OBI) nearly six years ago.
“When I was on the OBI, I got to go and get a steak for $10 and have that for dinner once a month,” said Crosson, who participated in the program in Thunder Bay and now lives in Toronto for better access to medical care.
The pilot project was launched by Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government in 2017 — in Lindsay, Hamilton and Thunder Bay — with the goal of learning how a basic income would affect people’s well-being over a three-year period.
The Thunder Bay resident said the OBI helped him get into a better apartment and invest more time into his volunteer organization, StandUp4Cleanup, which he launched while in recovery from alcoholism.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said, "Future increases for ODSP are now tied to inflation and will occur each July, helping recipients to keep pace with the rising costs of life’s essentials.
MacKinnon and other anti-poverty advocates feel hopeful about the basic income bills, especially given the longer lineups at food banks and soup kitchens in recent years.
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