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We’ve been pretty quiet since our year-end Town Hall with Senator Kim Pate. There’s lots to catch you up on.
It’s always eye-opening when a self-proclaimed non-believer admits they were won over. This time, a contributor to the American Conservative and New York Post who might’ve come across our work.
"For years, I opposed Universal Basic Income, firmly and reflexively... That position no longer survives contact with reality…Before AI, my opposition to universal basic income was rooted in a world that no longer exists. I assumed work would always be available for those willing to do it. That assumption is now obsolete.”
"The conservative case for universal basic income is about preventing social fracture while preserving incentives to contribute, where contribution is still possible... Most importantly, it's about buying time."
This is the first time we’ve seen anyone else other than us talk about basic income buying people time. Whether that’s to find the right work, go back to school or simply establish one’s footing -- everyone needs the security of a stable income to be productive and dignified.
Share this with someone you know who might be on the fence about UBI:
Read the full article in The Hill
The headline image features University of Toronto Professor and Nobel Laureate Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, “Godfather of AI”, whom we interviewed recently on joblessness and UBI. Watch it here.
The federal Liberals have tapped Dr. Danielle Martin, Chair of University of Toronto Family Medicine, as the candidate to replace former Dep. PM Chrystia Freeland, who resigned earlier this year.
Dr. Martin has been an outspoken champion of basic income for years. Watch a short interview of her endorsing basic income as healthcare policy.
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The University-Rosedale byelection, which has yet to be announced, could happen as soon as the first week of March. If you live in her riding, share the news with your neighbours and keep an eye out for an email from us later this month on how you can help.
The annual Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress will be held at the Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) on August 19-22, 2026, led by our friends at the Basic Income Canada Network. Visit the BIEN Congress 2026 website here.
Advocates around the world have closely followed the Canadian movement for years -- our pilots, our champions, our setbacks. This is a rare opportunity to host the international community and show how active and engaged our base is.
Past keynote speakers have included BIEN co-founder Dr. Guy Standing and the current South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung, a major UBI and land value tax advocate whom we profiled in a recent article. Watch Dr. Standing’s BIEN keynote here where he presented basic income as common dividends.
We’ll share more details in the coming weeks.
The New Democrats are currently choosing who will lead them in the next federal election, and this choice will signal a lot about what the party intends to stand for in the years ahead. One of the candidates Tanille Johnston reached out to us directly with a straightforward question: What would it actually take to implement a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income in Canada, and how do we do it credibly?
Read her Press Release: Tanille Johnston’s Plan Targets Inequality: Wealth Tax and GLBI at Core of NDP Leadership Bid — Backed by UBI Works Canada, Johnston’s GLBI Plan Takes Direct Aim at Inequality and Ending Poverty.
Why this matters: When a major federal party makes basic income a core legislative priority, it shifts what's politically achievable for all parties and creates clearer a pathway from advocacy to legislation. These openings are rare and worth supporting.
This race currently has five candidates, of whom at least 2 of the others have come out in support of UBI: Tony McQuail and Heather McPherson.
We recently published a clip of Senator Marty Klyne, a member of the Progressive Senator Group and respected business leader hailing from Saskatchewan, who voted to send Basic Income Bill S-206 to Committee despite reservations.
We wanted to highlight Senator Klyne’s senate speech as an exemplar of what deliberative opposition looks like; the type of good faith constructive debate that is often sorely missing in the public discourse. Despite his concerns, he acknowledged the public interest in basic income and its relevance in the age of automation.
“This debate is about the kind of society we want to build. Automation and AI are reshaping our world. The pandemic exposed vulnerabilities we cannot ignore. Canadians are asking for security, dignity and opportunity. A guaranteed livable income is one possible response, but not a simple one. It touches the very foundation of our economy, our federation and our social contract. That is why I support sending this bill to committee for careful, comprehensive study. When the numbers are on the table, it could be another story.”
Watch an excerpt of Senator Klyne’s speech
Bill S-206 was referred to the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, on November 6, 2025, the day after this speech.
We published a WSJ article headline by a married couple who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on poverty alleviation. It struck a chord.
I encourage you to read some of the 120+ quotes of our post. Lots of sentiment around taking the economic boot off the necks of people living bill to bill.
One said there'd be 8 artist commissions from his UBI. Another: ”I would get so much f**king work done if I wasn't constantly worrying about money”. Yet another: “People want to contribute, but they don't want to ‘toil’“.
Basic income allows us to redefine our relationship to work and how we choose to contribute to society, and it’s clear this is what humanity wants. Follow us on Bluesky and help make viral pieces like this more common.
Last week, Carney announced a new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit to replace the GST Credit, expanding its amount by 25% for five years beginning in July 2026. The government says it’ll provide additional support for 12 million people, or roughly 30% of Canadians. A family of 4 will get up to $1,890 this year, and single person will get up to $950. Read the government press release here.
It’s not exactly UBI, but an incremental step with targeted cash transfers. We’ve received both praise and criticism of the announcement -- a worthy expansion or a mere pittance -- at a time when Canada is being branded ‘food inflation capital’ of the G7.
Some might say it has elements of a basic income-like program:
'Some have discussed the new grocery store rebate, which is to be delivered through the GST/HST tax credit system, as closely aligned with proposals for a basic income guarantee. But a basic income guarantee would involve regular payments, not just a one-time rebate.' - Royal Society of Canada
Yet we all know much more needs to be done to truly eradicate food insecurity and poverty. Either way you put it, if such a new benefit, as inadequate as it may be today, can normalize the push towards a stronger safety net and make basic income more politically mainstream, then it’s progress.
Canada's largest tech funding round ever just closed: $1 Billion Series C for Toronto self-driving car company Waabi, led by Uber ex-chief scientist & UofT superstar Raquel Urtasun.
"Robotaxis are going to be much safer than human drivers."
In related news, driving continues to be the most common job for men in Canada (and much of the developed world).
The company is planning to deploy 25,000 robotaxis with Uber, including in Toronto where Tesla Full Self-Driving already works throughout the city. For context, Waymo (Google parent Alphabet's self-driving car) has 2,500 cars on Uber's network. Waabi already has self-driving trucks that have been running Uber Freight between Dallas-Houston since 2023.
In critical industries like medicine, agriculture, and transportation, AI has already enabled major breakthroughs that will save lives and raise living standards. At the same time, we must look ahead and ask: how will we share in the incoming productivity and wealth boom, while so many are at risk of displacement?
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Ken Yang
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