Life learned! Just wanted to share with

you guys the really nifty, and

unexpectedly cool experience of having

gone to the, um, consultation sessions for

the pilot project that they're planning

for Basic Income here in Ontario. Um, if you

guys aren't familiar with Basic Income, I

will link up here the video that I

talked about the different contrasting

approaches to it. Um, there's a lot of different

videos on YouTube that will give a very

easy, brief explanation of it, but the

general idea is a basic amount of money

for people who earn a lower than, uh,

certain amount, or who don't earn at all,

um, to reduce poverty. And uh, the idea is to bring

the current welfare programs, um, Ontario

Disability and Ontario Works or Ontario

Welfare together into one all-around

program that applies to a lot more

people. Um, I came to learn that this was

actually the 14th of 14 consultation, so it

was the last one; and, um, it was really

nicely set up! I was quite surprised to

see how everything was all laid out, and

there was tables, and tons of people there;

they had food and water, and um, a whole thing

set up, that I just, I really didn't know what to

expect, to be honest. Um, but ya, it was, it was very

professional, and it wasn't crowded or anything like that

And um, they had a very specific structure,

they laid out all kinds of information

on the table for everyone, including um, the

main questions that they were addressing;

and also discussing, um, just basic

information about, um, the different current

programs that exist. They also had a

really big informative booklet about,

um, Basic Income, (and uh, oh seems I got two of

those), and then they also provide an

evaluation, just for how we felt the

evening went. And um, overall I think it, it was

pretty good. I would have preferred a

little bit more opportunity for personal

input, um, in terms of like, uh, personal

experiences and how they contribute to how this might

benefit society. But overall there was a

pretty good opportunities for that because

at the end they did, um, actually

hand the mic around and have people, able,

allowed people the opportunity to ask

questions, or to offer opinions,

experiences, etc. Um, but at the beginning

they basically started it with a group

activity. They had everyone at separate

tables, um, and we were to introduce

ourselves, pick a writer, and pick a

speaker, and then, um, discuss the topic

that was on a big pamphlet paper on the

center of the table; and each table would

focus on one topic, and then if we wanted

to, we could move on to other topics

after that; and after a set amount of

time everyone, uh, stopped and they had one

person, (the speaker), from each table

presents the three basic ideas, or

answers to the big question, uh, or the main

question that each table was given; and

then after that was, as I mentioned, an

open discussion where we could ask

questions, or offer experiences. Uh, they

ultimately say that this is, um, after

tonight they have, apparently, two weeks

to get together all of the, (or maybe it was get one

week? A very short amount of time

anyways), to get together all of the

information that they're gathering from

everyone, and to, uh, basically summarize it

into a transcript to offer to the

Ontario government as information for

what they should do, or how they should

try to implement it,

um, so that it can all be designed for

April, and uh, implemented shortly after that, (though

they haven't set a specific day on

implementation). Um, there was a lot of

repeated comments, a lot of people had

the same things to say, (which, I mean, is

good! That means we have a concensus on

certain things that should be addressed

And it was really cool that as the mic was

being, uh, handed around people seem to have

answers to other people questions, um, with

regard to how certain things could be

handled. And I sat there for a good five

minutes, like shaking, and just being like,

'uh, I don't know, maybe I should speak, maybe

I shouldn't?'. I sorta, I went intending to speak, but

I was nervous, I was scared, and I wasn't

sure if it, if I really, it was appropriate to

go- to speak about what I had originally

intended, (which was, um, how my personal

experience is very much related to my

poverty; um, my abuse is related to my poverty, and

a lot of it wouldn't have happened if I

wasn't impoverished). Um, and that wasn't

really, entirely relevant, but I did, I did

end up putting up my hand; I worked the

courage up. Um, when I was done I was

literally shaking like this; like you could

here me shaking as I was speaking; my voice

was shaking. It was pretty, hmm, but the people

at my table said I didn't do too bad, and

the main points that I brought up are

that there are already currently um,

intercommunity centers that can be used as

addresses for the homeless, so that the

homeless can be included within the

Basic Income program, (which is huge, because

they're the biggest faction of poverty that

are not helped through our current systems).

Um, I also addressed that, Aidan and I

agreed, (um, by the way, my friend Aidan came with

me - super awesome of him! I really

appreciated the support, and the help; and he

just has a lot of good things to add to the

conversation), um, and uh, we agreed that it

should be done on an individual basis, uh, or

determined on an individual- a person's

individual situation, instead of uh, as

couples or families per se, (um, children

aside, of course), because, uh, this allows a

lot more freedom for situations of

domestic abuse; particularly like my

situation, where I was in the situation as

long as I was, in a lot of senses, due to

financial dependence; and a lot of people

are in that situation when it comes to

spouses, and family members, and a lot of

different things. And uh, domestic abuse

doesn't really seem to be a thing considered very

often for Basic Income, so put in that

point as well. And then it was brought up

just before I spoke, uh, people being

concerned about all the jobs that might

be lost as they're trying to reduce the

administrative costs, basically of social

assistance, by introducing this Basic Income

program. And uh, with that, um, Aidan and I had

come up with a pretty decent counter, I

feel, that it seems reasonable to handle

that, is to offer subsidized education or

training for anyone who is within those

sectors of jobs that are being taken away

um, so that they can reapply thier skills

elsewhere. It is also very possible that

they can just be relocated, their skills

can be reapplied elsewhere without any

more training, (and by all means, if that's possible,

do that first!), but if training and

education is necessary in order to apply

themselves in a different area of the

community, allowing that- them that

opportunity would reduce the burden of

the fact that they've lost their job, and allow

them to continue contributing to society

and earning an income without- with it

having purpose, instead of just being an

income, for the sake of an income

Um, why not get rid of jobs that aren't

contributing to society, and help people

re-designate their labour and their efforts

towards things that will contribute to

society? In terms of progress, it really only

seems to make sense. So that's what I put forward, and I

was shakin the whole time; it was scary! Um, but

uh, after that they basically wrapped it up and

summarize that, um, they were, uh, taking notes of

everything that was being said at that

time, (uh, like ladies were transcripting in the

corner), and um, they took all of the, um, big

question paper, and we have this thing

called a- I think they called it a 'parking lot',

(uh, just like, this blank page to put notes

on that didn't really fit in other

places); and they took all of that to also

refer to. And in the end they basically said

that they were going to release, um,

a transcript of everything that happened,

and that would be then used to determine

what they're going to do with the pilot

I actually spoke with, um, one of the main

people that was, uh, organizing, or running

things at the front, and he said that,

um, uh, people had actually address a number

of questions that hadn't been answered,

and the government doesn't actually know

the answer to; and that's part of why

they were doing this consultation, was to

try and, (excuse me), get that kind of

information from people. So ultimately, I

feel pretty positive about it; pretty okay. I-it,

um, it was educational; I mean, I I knew a

lot about Basic Income, but uh, it allowed me

to hear some peoples different ideas on

it; it allowed me to hear, um, some peoples

understandings of different government

um... What do you say? Regulations or things

that could be changed, (like, I'm not very

familiar with the taxation system, and

some people were; and they were

suggesting, um, uh, sources to get the income from)

So I learned a lot. I also, um, had been- Aidan had

convinced me that negative income tax might

be the better choice, just out of cost

and implementation, because he said it

didn't make sense, uh, or it would be very

costly to have people- giving, to be

giving people, um, of large incomes amounts

that they would literally have to just

get right back to the government; because

there would be administration within

that, that would just create money to have to

be spent, that wouldn't otherwise be

necessary. But, um, a couple of really cool guys, um,

(Noah and Eric), sat down at our table with

us, and Eric had a very good point, (a lot

of rather good points), about the fact

that just the, uh, broadness and universality

of Universal Basic Income, (instead of

negative income tax), would reduce the

administrative cost immensely,

to the point that it would eat up

whatever costs are created by giving,

um, the higher income people money that they

would just have to get back at tax time;

because we already have a setup tax

system, where that basically already

happens, and if people- in the negative

income tax situation, people have to

report their income at some various

different points, in order for that to

work, because it's based off of your

income. So you're- there's still reporting, whereas

with the Universal Basic Income, there's,

there's no reporting, no-nothing

beyond what's already done at tax time.

So it just literally gets rid of an,

an excessive amounts of administration, and

doesn't really add any. Um, so, yay Eric! Thanks

so much for helping me get back on the