Hon. Kim Pate: Thank you, Minister Gould, for joining us, and thank you to you and your colleagues for all the work you are doing. It is well appreciated.

As you know, $1 invested in children, including measures like the Canada Child Benefit, results in up to $9 of saved future health, social and legal services system costs. Guaranteed basic livable income programs for working-age adults and their families demonstrate similar benefits: for example, an 8.5% reduction in hospitalizations in the province of Manitoba alone during its pilot project. This is one reason provinces including P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador have expressed interest in partnering with the federal government to implement guaranteed livable basic income initiatives.

Could you please advise us on your progress and what steps the government has taken to collaborate with these provinces around the whole issue of basic income and on any other meetings or negotiations currently under way to assess the feasibility of the initiatives that they are proposing?

Hon. Karina Gould, P.C., M.P., Minister of Families, Children and Social Development: Well, thank you, Senator Pate. I know this is a particular passion of yours, and I know how engaged you have been on this particular issue, so thank you for all of your work leading here in convening stakeholders.

As you mentioned, Canada essentially has a livable income for children as well as for seniors, and we have seen remarkable results. It was quite disappointing when the Ontario government under the current premier cancelled the basic income pilots that were taking place near my home community, in Hamilton. I’m from Burlington. I think that would have provided a great modern example for us to draw a lot of information and knowledge from. The pilots that occurred in Dauphin, Manitoba happened, I believe, in the 1970s, and so it would have been good to have a bit more updated information off of which we could draw and learn from.

That being said, I think the Government of Canada has made some important strides when it comes to improving income supports. Particularly I’m thinking about the Canada Workers Benefit, but other initiatives as well.

Of course, additional investments in things like housing, dental care, early learning and child care help to alleviate some of the high costs of living, but we know that there’s still more work that needs to be done, and I know that you are leading some of this important work, convening and research, and I look forward to carrying on that conversation and learning from the results of that work.