Our first 170 signatories have already signed on, representing $1.5B/year in combined revenues and 5,300+ staff. See some of their names and companies below.
Our Letter
To: The Right Honourable Prime Minister and Members of Parliament,
We urge the Government of Canada, in conjunction with its provincial and territorial counterparts, to work together to enact a guaranteed minimum income program (Basic Income) for all Canadian adults to improve our resiliency and productivity.
We believe Canada cannot successfully meet the challenges of a modern labour market without a Basic Income. We are in a time of great transition. Technological job displacement, accelerating globalization, surging gig work, falling entrepreneurship, rising cost of living, and climate change will continue to challenge our communities and exacerbate unforeseen crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Our workers, customers, and businesses alike need the confidence and security that only an income guarantee can provide.
The evidence is clear that not only will a Basic Income save tax-payers tremendous costs in our health care, justice, and social safety net systems, but it will also create prosperity by ensuring everyone can fully participate in our economy, enhancing the ability of the economy to grow. Simply put, it is more economical to keep people from falling into poverty, than it is to raise them out of poverty.
Basic Income is economic infrastructure which will greatly increase our resiliency by helping people through times of transitions, supporting entrepreneurship, growing the economy, stimulating job creation, fortifying wage growth, and ensuring equality of opportunity.
We urge this government to act now; address the economic vulnerabilities of today and prepare for those of tomorrow.
We the undersigned urge you to implement a Basic Income.
Sign on
CEOs, founders, business owners, managing or executive directors, VP & C-level executives, and investors: let's put our voice behind this message to educate the Canadian public and governments about the urgency for a Basic Income.
Sign on as a signatory below. Our goal is to inspire 500+ business and civil society leaders to co-sign this letter before presenting it to Parliament.
If you are considering support for our initiative and have any questions or wish to discuss any of the positions we take, please do not hesitate to contact Floyd Marinescu at floyd@floydmarinescu.com.
Initial Signatories
Jim Estill, Danby, Appliance Manufacturer
Audrey Mascarenhas, Questor Technology Inc. (QST.V), Clean air technology company
Jason Atkins, 360Insights, Channel Success Platform
Chris Ford, Intelliware, enterprise-grade software solutions
Shane Skillen, Hotspex, #1 Market Insights Firm In North America
Myrna Gillis, Aqualitas, Licensed producer and processor of organic cannabis products
Paul Vallée, Tehama, leading data-centric cloud services provider
Peter Neal, Neal Brothers Foods, food brand & distributor of natural/organic foods
Michael Mazza, Retired President and CEO of Middlesex Hospital Alliance, Acute Care Hospital
Kim Orlesky, ConvergentIS, SAP partner offering a design, build, sell, and service focus to clients across North America
Jay Giraud, Damon Motors, Electric Motorcyles of the Future
Brendan Thompson, BJ Electric Supplies Ltd., Independent electrical wholesale distributor
Susan Garrett, Dogs That, a learning platform for dog people
Alon Ozery, Ozery Bakery, makers of natural pitas, flatbreads and alternative buns sold in North America
David Suydam, Architech, an innovation firm building digital products and enterprise systems
Libby Wildman, Davis Rea Investment Counsel Ltd
Darryl Ballantyne, LyricFind, powering licensed lyrics, royalties, and music data services around the world
Trevor Newell, biOptimizers, Health Supplement Producer and Distributor
Alfred Jay, Recollective Inc., software platform for qualitative research
Josh Singer, Optimy.ai, live chat solution for businesses
Megan Rafuse, Shift Collab, one of Canada’s leading group therapy practices, offering counselling and mental health care from coast-to-coast
Jamie Burton, INNoVA and Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
Stu McLaren, North Results Inc., Software and training that help online entrepreneurs sell courses and membership sites
Ian Rae, CloudOps, We help you own your destiny in the cloud
Floyd Marinescu, C4Media Inc., QCon: Global Software Developer Conferences and InfoQ: Online Developer News
Bob Vaez, EventMobi, a global software company that empowers event organizers to promote and manage their events as well as engaging attendees at their in-person or virtual events
Danny Iny, Mirasee, teaching coaches, consultants, and expertise-based entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through online courses
Jeremy Potvin, Weedbox Inc., Cannabis retailer
Alan Smithson, MetaVRse, a 3D creation platform for the future of human communication, collaboration, commerce and culture
James Boettcher, Righteous Gelato, Small batch and plant-based gelato made with only the good stuff
Court Desautels, Neighbourhood Group of Companies, Guelph-based Restaurants
Lowell Aronoff, CANNEX Financial Exchanges, Comparative illustrations and analysis of financial products in Canada and USA
Phillip Haid, Public Inc., Social Impact Agency & Accelerator
How Basic Income Helps Canada’s Economy
A report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis shows that Basic Income could grow Canada’s economy $80B/year, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and support workers and businesses, while lifting 3.2M families out of poverty. Here’s what some top Canadian economists had to say about the report.
Do have more questions before joining us as a signatory? Visit our FAQ below to find answers to common questions around Basic Income.
Our Past Work
In 2018, over 120 of us — Canadian CEOs and business leaders representing $2.3B in combined annual revenues — signed a letter explaining the importance of Basic Income and urging the Doug Ford administration to resume the Ontario Basic Income Pilot.
On October 18th, 2018, we presented our concerns in the aforementioned letter at a launch event to the government at the Ontario Legislature. Now, we are building on this first campaign with a goal of reaching 500 signatories.
Partner Spotlight
Read their article on Why Universal Basic Income Would Help Women Entrepreneurs Soar To New Heights