By Pat Warren
KAWARTHA LAKES-After a negative decision was brought down by the Ontario Divisional court on February 15th, the challenge will now be focusing on a class action lawsuit for alleged damages incurred by the participants after the Ontario Government cancelled the Basic Income Pilot Project.
The Basic Income Pilot Project was initiated by the former Liberal Government to obtain data on whether basic income could save money on social services while giving what they call a “hand up” to people who have fallen through the cracks. The pilot was to run for three years in Lindsay, Thunder Bay and Hamilton Region.
The new Conservative government ended the program early, even though they promised to continue the initiative during the election. This move left many people without a plan forward. The recipients say they were planning on these funds to return to school, help them find new jobs, assist with their disabilities and other initiatives to move them out of poverty.
The local applicants are all residents of Lindsay, Ontario and receive Basic Income payments from to the Pilot Project. Dana Bowman has long-term disabilities, Grace Hillion is a student at Durham College, Susan Lindsay stopped work in 2017 due to health issues and Tracey Mechefske, owns a small business and is living with long-term disabilities.
According to court documents, one of the main reasons these applicant’s took the decision to the court “was their reliance on the Pilot Project to their detriment, and the decision to cancel the program would adversely affect their well-being. “They also claimed the decision was irrational, made in bad faith and/or unethical and should therefore be quashed.”
The Conservative Government submitted that the “Pilot Project is a government funding decision and is a political decision that cannot be questioned or reviewed by the courts.”
In the end, the Court found that they did not have the power to overturn the government’s decision.
The decision stated “that the courts have no power to review the policy considerations which motivate Cabinet decisions. The responsibility for the management of public funds rests with the government and not the court, as does the correctness of the government’s decisions and policies.”
The applicants however can go after damages for breach of contract by the government.
Local Lawyer /social activist Mike Perry is acting for the applicants as pro bono legal counsel and will now focus on the class action lawsuit.
Perry was contacted after the decision and he commented saying“while the applicants are disappointed with the decision, they respect the Court and the legal process and have asked me to thank the Court for its consideration of their application.”
He further stated “People are not disposable. Governments can’t just throw people aside. The class action is for the harm the government inflicted on some of the most vulnerable members of our community – people of low income and people living with disabilities – by its decision to cancel the basic income pilot early. No matter people’s opinion on a basic income as a social policy, we can surely all agree that you don’t make a financial commitment to people and then just pull the plug early throwing them under the financial bus. There needs to be compensation to make people whole.”
