It’s always easy to collect and disperse working people’s hard earn money if you are an idealistic journalist or politician trying to curry favor at election time or during a national crisis.
I would support giving “every” Canadian a guaranteed basic income during this pandemic but only until we are well into the recovery stage.
For a period of two to six months depending on how much each Canadian earned at the time they were laid off or had their employment terminated, they would be guaranteed at a minimum the same level of income during the duration of the pandemic up to say $50,000 that they earned when their world became unglued.
If you were unemployed when the pandemic struck you would be guaranteed the absolute maximum that provincial or federal legislation now allows until the crisis passes.
I’m from the pencil/paper and times table era, so the cost of my proposals is best left in the hands of the math geniuses out there but I suspect it would be much cheaper, easier to implement and could be in the hands of the people that need assistance much faster.
I believe our federal government first rolled out $1 billion aid to businesses and workers affected by the virus around March 10-17 and soon realized that this was not going to do the job and pledged to increase that to $80 billion or so.
I realize that the wheels of government turn slowly but it now approaching the end of March and I suspect very little of that promised aid has been arrived where it is needed most.
Malcolm F. Brown
Dartmouth, N.S.
