CTV News
“We need basic income because too many people in Nova Scotia today are suffering,” said Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, the chair of advocacy group Basic Income Nova Scotia, at a legislative committee on Tuesday.
She declared the province’s poverty rates too concerning for inaction, downplaying the provincial government’s opposition of a guaranteed basic income due to the cost.
“Poverty rates, food insecurity and food bank use are all rising,” she said. “Housing prices are out of reach for many, and non-market housing levels are far too low.”
The poverty rates are on government’s radar.
“Nova Scotia’s not traditionally fared well in either general poverty measures or for child poverty-specific measures relative to the rest of Canada,” said Frazer Egerton, the department’s executive lead of strategic initiatives.
“It’s probably something that does not sit well with anyone around this table.”
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