Basic Income ACTION

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Votes for Bill S-233 for A Basic Income
Via Kathie Keefe, Grand River Unitarians Social Action:

I’m asking you to send an email or write a letter to the 7 Senators listed in the article below because if only one changes their mind and votes for Bill S-233 for A Basic Income, it will pass. Below is information explaining the situation.

Time Sensitive – Call to Action for Bill S-233
From: Wil Robertson  on Mon, Mar 4, 2024 at 6:42 PM

I write to you tonight with an important and time sensitive request. I ask that you write to members of the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, and urge them to support Bill S-233. I ask that you share this message with whomever you can, and to spread the word that the time is now to support this Bill and to advance basic income advocacy and policy across our country.

Last Wednesday, the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance (NFFN), met to discuss Bill S-233, and to hear testimony from the Hon. Art Eggleton, and Mayor Marianne Alto of the City of Victoria. Additionally, we knew that the committee had intended to vote on the Bill that evening. Prior to proceedings commencing, Senator Kim Pate, the sponsor of the Bill, asked for the consent of the committee to delay voting on the Bill to a later date. This unexpected move, I have now come to understand, is due to shifting circumstances in the Senate that meant that Senator Pate was short one vote from passing this Bill and sending it to Third Reading.

Let me repeat that – Bill S-233 is one vote away from passing in committee. One vote, between our movement and a significant step forward to making a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income a reality in Canada. One vote, between our movement and the most significant piece of legislation ever brought forward federally reaching farther in the legislative process than many of us ever thought it would. One vote between our movement, and a national debate on basic income in the Senate of Canada and for the first time in the House of Commons.

What I know is this – our movement can alter one vote. Our movement can make a little history. Together.

Why the Rush?

We are up against a procedural clock. Senator Percy Mockler is the Chair of the Committee, and is an old Red Tory the likes of Hugh Segal. He supports basic income, and has pushed for Bill S-233 to be studied and passed. Yet, Sen. Mockler is 74. He turns 75 April 14, the mandatory age of retirement. When Senator Mockler retires, another Conservative will become Chair of the Committee, likely Senator Marshall, who is opposed to basic income. As the Leadership of the Conservatives in the Senate are staunchly opposed to Bill S-233, it is likely they will do everything in their power to quash this Bill when Senator Mockler leaves office.

Currently, Conservatives and skeptics are pushing for the Bill to be considered again in the Fall, long after Senator Mockler is gone. However, if Senator Mockler knows Bill S-233 has a sufficient number of votes to pass, he can arrange a meeting of the Committee almost immediately to vote on the Bill and pass it, where it is likely to pass Third Reading in the Senate as well.

Essentially, if this Bill is not passed prior to Senator Mockler’s retirement, it is essentially dead on the order paper.

So What Can I do?

  1. Advocate to the Senators on the committee today to pass Bill S-233. Why do you support basic income? What impact could it have? Tell them. Tell your story. Doing so might just change the story of generations to come. Write to the Senators, no postage is required. Call them. Email them. Send parchment and paper by carrier pigeon. Whatever way you can reasonably reach out to the members of the committee, do so, and do it swiftly.
  2. To date, 32,000 Canadians have signed a petition posted by UBI Works calling for Senators to support Bill S-233. https://www.ubiworks.ca/guaranteed-livable-basic-income Have you? Have your friends? The petition can be shared on social media and asks others to sign it too. Posts including the petition on X have spread far and wide, contributing to its success.
  3. Share articles, videos, your favourite speech on basic income and Bill S-233 – show people the progress we are making and why this Bill matters.
  4. Has your business or organization made a submission to the committee to support this legislation? You can email a submission to the clerk of the committee to be included in supporting the Bill.

Who is on the Committee?

Who do we need to vote for S-233 so that it passes?

Senators Dalphond, Galvez, Loffreda, MacAdam, Marshall, Smith, and Ross. Dalphond, Loffreda, and MacAdam are currently opposing Bill S-233. If one of them, just one of them, changes their minds – this Bill passes.

Friends, when I first worked on S-233 in 2022, my colleagues in the Senate all agreed that this Bill did not have a solitary hope in hell of reaching consideration at committee. We proved them wrong. When S-233 reached committee, we thought they would stack up witnesses opposed to the Bill. Our efforts have allowed for numerous advocates to present, and only one opposing voice has appeared before the committee. This Bill has already gone further than any before it, and has surpassed what all of us thought it could become.

And now we stand one singular vote away from the precipice of history. Together, we can get this passed. So, will you help me?

Reach out to members of the committee. Sign the petition. Share clips, articles, and why this Bill needs to be passed. Write Op-Eds. Tell your friends.

The clock is ticking. Together, we can get Bill S-233 passed, and stand one step closer to making a national GLBI possible.

In hope and solidarity,

 Wil Robertson (He/Him) – 506-875-9331 –wilhr@outlook.com

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