Since 1972, the United Church of Canada has advocated for a Guaranteed Annual Income as a method of ensuring economic security for all persons in Canada that is both more equitable and less expensive and complicated to administer than the numerous government support programs presently available.
[W]e call for a guaranteed livable income that implements a structure of justice-making and justice-keeping that no longer excuses, rationalizes, and tolerates poverty. We call for a system that expresses a fundamental, fair level of income security for all, as did the early Christians who shared their resources so there was no need among them. (The Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, 2023)
“In terms of poverty, these lessons showed me that focusing on its causes or the conditions that generated it, for either an individual or a community, was actually avoiding the point. Poverty itself was, and is, a contributing cause of ill health, poor education outcomes, marriage breakup, short lives, substance abuse, and problems with the law. A single-focus program to address the cash crunch that defines and shatters millions of lives would clearly be the most efficient, humane, and productive way to proceed. The many ’causes of poverty,’ cited usually by Finance officials who are seeking to evade any specific action at all, sustain the ‘poverty is complex’ school of thought, which is really the ‘do nothing’ school of thought. No state, however flush with excess cash, can address all the endless lists of causes that contribute to poverty — hence, invoking that complex myriad of causes is actually the tribal call for inertia. Determining, as we have with seniors, that we will top up their income to reduce the effects of poverty, on them and on the rest of us, is the rational model.” Hugh Segal, Bootstraps Need Boots – One Tory’s Lonely Fight to End Poverty in Canada, On Point Press (UBC Press) 2019, p. 131. [Hugh Segal (d. 2023) was a Canadian senator, chief of staff to Premier Bill Davis, chief of staff to PM Brian Mulroney, head of Massey College, professor at Queen’s University, president of the Institute for Research in Public Policy, prominent Progressive Conservative, author and committed advocate for a basic income guarantee.]
Some statistics from Lincoln:
• As of November 2025, the Ontario Minimum Wage is $17.60 per hour, which is $3.80/hr. less than the living wage in Niagara, calculated for 2025 as $21.40 per hour (which the Ontario Living Wage Network calculates a full-time worker must earn to make ends meet).
• According to Community Care of West Niagara, 100% of the households they served in 2024 are experiencing income insecurity that directly affects their food insecurity and housing situation. In 2024, there were 9675 visits to CCWN, representing 310 families and 795 individuals served monthly.
• Of CCWN’s clients in 2024, 51% are between the ages of 19 and 54, 66% are households with no dependents and 31% are households with dependents.
• Of CCWN’s clients in 2024, 53% live in private rental accommodation, 10% in rented social housing, 11% are homeless or unhoused, 11% are homeowners and 15% identified as other or did not disclose their housing situation.
• According to information published by Niagara Regional Housing, the wait time in Lincoln (Beamsville) for a two bedroom unit for a household with dependents is 4 years (for a three bedroom unit it is 8 years), the wait time for a one bedroom unit for a single person aged 16-54 is 13 years and for a senior aged 55 and older is 13 years (there are no bachelor units).
United Church of Canada — Backgrounder on the Nuts and Bolts of a Guaranteed Livable Income [excerpts]
a.?What is a Guaranteed Livable Income?
A Guaranteed Livable Income (GLI) is a payment to individuals or families by government (federal and/or provincial/territorial) that covers the cost of basic necessities (food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and community participation) and is not conditional on meeting employment criteria in order to qualify for the benefit. However, demographic conditions such as age and residency or citizenship may be imposed as eligibility requirements.
b.?How can a GLI be administered?
Governments use two methods for designing and administering guaranteed incomes: as a demogrant and as a refundable tax credit.
A demogrant is a fixed amount of income paid to all families or individuals, regardless of their income level. The amount is not reduced (clawed back) by the amount of income the family or individual has. However, the benefit could be considered taxable income by government. …
By comparison, a refundable tax credit (RTC) provides families or individuals with no other income a maximum benefit?the Guarantee?which is then reduced as the family’s or individual’s other sources of income increase. The reduction (clawback) rate can vary. A current example of an RTC is the Old Age Security benefit. All seniors with incomes up to [a threshold] … receive the full annual value of the OAS benefit … For those with higher incomes, the benefit is reduced at the rate of 15 percent, such that those with incomes greater than [the maximum OAS threshold] get no OAS benefits.
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UCC Backgrounder (Continued…)
A refundable tax credit that offers a livable guarantee is substantially less expensive than a demogrant of equal value because the benefit only goes to those whose income is low enough to qualify for a full or partial benefit. A refundable tax credit is most efficiently administered through the personal income tax system.
c.?Does Canada already have guaranteed income programs?
The federal government presently offers three guaranteed income programs, two for seniors and one for children. The two seniors’ programs are Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors. The Canada Child Benefit provides a benefit to children under 18 years of age.
The demographic group not covered by any existing guaranteed income program is adults aged 18?64. Provincial social assistance and federal Employment Insurance are the only income transfer programs available to these two groups, but the programs impose employability and contribution tests in order to qualify.
© 2021 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca. Any copy must include this notice.
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What research shows
Research and basic income pilot programs show that when people have a sufficient and secure income their mental and physical health improves and poverty rates decrease. They have the capacity to secure more affordable, suitable, and safe housing, childcare, healthy food, and transportation.
… More to follow