The Case for Basic Income: Freedom, Security, Justice

Inequality is up. Decent work is down. Free market fundamentalism has been exposed as a tragic failure. In a job market upended by COVID-19--with Canadians caught in the grip of precarious labour, stagnant wages, a climate crisis, and the steady creep of automation--an ever-louder chorus of voices calls for a liveable and obligation-free basic income.

Could a basic income guarantee be the way forward to democratize security and intervene where the market economy and social programs fail? Jamie Swift and Elaine Power scrutinize the politics and the potential behind a radical proposal in a post-pandemic world: that wealth should be built by a society, not individuals. And that we all have an unconditional right to a fair share.

In these pages, Swift and Power bring to the forefront the deeply personal stories of Canadians who participated in the 2017-2019 Ontario Basic Income Pilot; examine the essential literature and history behind the movement; and answer basic income's critics from both the right and left.

Kingston writer and Between the Lines co-founder Jamie Swift is the author, most recently, of The Vimy Trap: Or, How We learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War (with McMaster historian Ian McKay), finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

Elaine Power is an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies and head of the Department of Gender Studies at Queen's University. She is a founding member of the Kingston Action Group for a Basic Income Guarantee.