What needs of the public should be addressed as necessities in our modern urban societies? In Canada, basic levels of healthcare and education are provided as universal public services. In a modern society, we need to consider housing, transport, social care and access to information as necessities that would benefit the whole society if they were provided at some level as a public service.
Anna Coote is principal fellow at the New Economics Foundation and co-author of Universal Basic Income: A Union Perspective (Public Services International) with Edanur Yazici.
The report concludes that the money needed to pay for an adequate UBI scheme “would be better spent on reforming social protection systems, and building more and better-quality public services”. Redistributing the personal tax allowance and developing the idea of universal basic services (UBS) could offer a more promising alternative. This calls for more and better quality public services that are free to those who need them, regardless of ability to pay. Healthcare and education are obvious examples, and it is argued that a similar approach should be applied to areas such as transport, housing, social care and information – everyday essentials that should be available to all. Collective provision offers more cost-effective, socially just, redistributive and sustainable ways of meeting people’s needs than leaving individuals to buy what they can afford in the marketplace. (Coote, 2019)
Jaela Bernstien, is a Montreal-based journalist who covers climate change and the environment for CBC's online, radio and TV news programs. With over a decade of experience, her work has won several awards including a 2023 National RTDNA award, a 2023 Gold Digital Publishing Award, and a 2018 CAJ award for labour reporting.
In 2018, the government of British Columbia asked a panel of experts to study the feasibility of a basic income for the province. The resulting report found that "the needs of people in this society are too diverse to be effectively answered simply with a cheque from the government."
Panel chair David Green, a labour economist and a professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of B.C., said the better solution is to reform the programs that already exist.
"If our problem is really, the full heterogeneous, complex issue of poverty — how do we make a more just society — then, in many cases, sending people a cheque and hoping they will do better is not going to answer the problem,"
Green said it would be better to tackle issues head-on, targeting poor working conditions and low wages, reforming the disability assistance program and boosting rent assistance. (Bernstien, 2021)
Guy Standing is professorial research associate at SOAS University of London. His new book is ‘The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea’ (Pelican, 2022). He is a technical adviser to the basic income pilot being conducted by the government of Wales.
It's time for advocates of ‘Universal Basic Services’ to stop juxtaposing the idea of more and better public services with giving people basic income security.
Psychologists have found that basic security increases people’s IQ, and makes people more altruistic, tolerant, cooperative and productive, as workers and as citizens. Sadly, most economists and policymakers have given no value to basic security. A basic income would do so, whereas the menu of mainly targeted services being offered under the title of UBS would not. An income-insecure person with access to a free bus ride or even childcare or broadband would remain insecure.
Ultimately, there is no contradiction between having some public quasi-universal basic services and a basic income. They address different needs and stem from different rationales. But having cash enhances freedom of choice, is potentially more empowering and can be more transformative. I plead with those advocating ‘Universal Basic Services’ to stop juxtaposing the idea of more and better public services with giving people basic income security. (Standing, 2019)
Jaela Bernstien reports that like economists, Canada's main parties are also divided on basic income, though none are promising universal basic income. Here's where they stand:
(Bernstien, 2021)
There is much to consider in the best approach to provide transport, housing, social care and information as basic necessities for people in an urban information society.
References
Bernstien, J. (2021, September 19). What is basic income and which of Canada's main parties support it? CBC. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-how-basic-income-works-1.6179760
Coote, A. (2019, May 6). Universal basic income doesn't work. Let's boost the public realm instead | Anna Coote. The Guardian. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/06/universal-basic-income-public-realm-poverty-inequality
Standing, G. (2019, June 6). Why 'Universal Basic Services' is no alternative to Basic Income. openDemocracy. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/why-universal-basic-services-is-no-alternative-to-basic-income/
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