A basic income. More room to live.

Give people a secure start.

We support universal basic income: regular cash paid to people without a work or income test. People with high incomes can pay more tax. A safe floor should be a right, not a reward for pleasing an office.

This is our goal. We also back income-tested pilots that help us learn. We will name the difference. A plan that cuts the payment as income rises is not the same as a payment to everyone.

Learn from the good and the hard results.

Germany tested monthly cash for three years. Its main trial had 107 recipients and 1,580 people in a comparison group. It found better mental health. It did not find a clear change in the share with jobs. The group was narrow: adults aged 21 to 40 who lived alone.

A US trial gave 1,000 people US$1,000 a month for three years. Another 2,000 got US$50 a month. Paid work fell by about one to two hours a week. That result belongs on this page too. No small trial can tell us the full effect of national taxes, rents or prices.

Show who pays and who gains.

In 2025, PBO modelled two income-tested plans. One counted adults, their partners and young children as a family. The other also counted adult relatives in the home. The wider test paid out much less.

The model paid for the base cost by cutting named benefits and tax credits. It also cut the income amount people can earn before tax applies. That is a funding choice, not free money. We have not adopted those cuts. We want a separate price for UBI, with each tax change and effect on people shown.

Back the next steps in Canada.

Canada has steps to build on. Quebec has a basic income program for people with severe, long-term health limits. PEI reports a targeted pilot. These are not universal plans. Ontario ended its earlier pilot before the planned three years were up.

We back pilots across the country and a funded path to UBI. Keep health care and extra support for disability. Build more homes too. Set a budget, protect people in the trial and publish what happens. A test should move the work forward, not delay the goal forever.

What we want changed

1. Build the national plan.

   Set out a path to universal basic income. Price the payment, the tax plan and the effect on each group.

2. Back pilots and keep the promise.

   Fund tests across Canada. State the payment dates and budget. Keep the agreed support in place for the full trial.

3. Keep the support people need.

   Protect health care and help for extra needs. Make access simple. Publish gains, harms and costs.

Who can act

Parliament; federal, provincial and territorial finance and social support offices; Indigenous governments.

What this could cost the public

We have not priced our final UBI design. PBO's income-tested examples are not that price. Each pilot needs a public budget. A national plan needs its own payment, tax and service costs, with gains and losses shown.