Tracey Crosson says she ate healthier, slept better and had more energy when she was receiving basic income payments from the Ontario government.

Now, she’s left with $22 every month after paying rent and relies on Meals on Wheels.

Crosson is just one of the thousands of people impacted after the province scrapped the basic income pilot project (OBI) nearly six years ago. The early cancellation of the program in 2018 is behind a class-action lawsuit that was certified by a Superior Court judge on March 4.

“When I was on the OBI, I got to go and get a steak for $10 and have that for dinner once a month,” said Crosson, who participated in the program in Thunder Bay and now lives in Toronto for better access to medical care. “Now, I don’t have the luxury for steak and hamburger and all that stuff.”

  • fuckyou@lemmy.ca
    7·
    4 months ago

    Because they know that they won’t directly benefit, that it will pose a threat to the old power structures they are in control of and know, because conservatives (and old people) by their nature are scared of progress and new things, because giving in to some level of equality would mean that they were wrong on any number of other things and that conservative ideology might not actually bring about the best possible society.

    They see themselves as naturally privileged, and anything that may pose a threat to their power dominance will always be fought, just like in feudal times. It was never about money for them, the money was only a means to an end, to make sure social division and hierarchies were upheld and protected. If you start messing with the money, however, that would be the first birth pangs of a new revolution, and they know whose heads are going to roll.

    Giving a fair share to everyone, even hypothetically, would be like admitting that the Emperor doesn’t wear shoes, and then socks, and then pants, and then all the other things and then all of a sudden we find them standing there all nekkid with their dick in their hands like a bunch of old fat white dudes jerking each other off in the middle of the town square.

    E: Edited for poetry