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.”

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
    0·
    6 months ago

    DrugFraud, the scummiest skin bag ever, who Ontario has managed to elect twice as premier.

    Maybe by next election Ontario will have learned its lesson.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    0·
    6 months ago

    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.

    The original article contains 1,026 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 82%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • whereisk@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    I understand why journos do it, focusing on an individual’s plight. But this is just anecdote - give us some statistical data to support the story, then bring up the individual as representative example.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
      0·
      6 months ago

      There are some in the article …

      Number of people using Ontario food banks rose nearly 40% last year: report

      A single person on ODSP gets $1,308 a month for basic needs and shelter, or under $16,000 a year. A single person on OW receives $733 a month, amounting to less than $9,000 annually.

      The Ontario Living Wage Network calculates the living wage in Thunder Bay at $19.80 an hour. For a person working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year, that would equate to an annual income of just below $40,000, not including tax deductions.

      • whereisk@lemmy.world
        0·
        6 months ago

        Yes, but nothing on what the article was focused on - the impact on individuals.

        So we have no idea if it hit intended targets, if it improves lives better than other programs or differently etc. How it was used, did it enable people to escape a suffocating circumstances that then allowed them to thrive (a medical procedure, fleeing domestic abuse etc) or put more food on the table like the individual stories it had. Give us some statistical data.

  • n3m37h@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 months ago

    Can we hang Ford by the testicles too? Guy has fucked Ontario over every chance he got. And yet to get in trouble when he has been caught