blogcutter

Today instead of a throwback Thursday, I'm going to do a kind of throw-ahead Thursday. Our local newspaper is asking people to write in and briefly describe what their "new normal" will look like, or what they would LIKE it to look like once this pandemic is a distant memory.

So here's what I hope for, tempered by what I think we can realistically expect.

You know that old adage, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? I don't think anybody will come through this totally unscathed, even if their own and their family's health are not directly affected. I would hope that most of us have learned to be kinder and more compassionate than we may have been previously, and that we will be more appreciative of what we have. I think we are coming to understand, in a more heartfelt way, the value but also the fragility of our lives. Many of us have reassessed our goals and priorities over the past several months. Some of us have had ample time to take stock of our lives. As for those stressed-out folk fighting a sometimes losing battle on the front lines? It's probably fair to say that somewhere in the back of their minds, their psyches are busily taking stock FOR them and once the day-to-day and minute-to-minute crises have ended, these people will find themselves at a fork in the road, making decisions about what to do next.

That's the more macro picture. There are some more specific things I'd like to see happen too.

In Canada, I'd like to finally see a universal basic income for every adult Canadian citizen. And in fact, that is definitely on the agenda of the federal Liberals at the moment. I'm hoping it won't go the way of the Liberal promise to get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system. We shall see.

I'd like to see more of a "Man is the measure of all things" society. Human-scale, walkable, public transit-rich environmentally conscious cities and towns. But to accomplish this, we need to be conscious of people's habits, of the things people DO do rather than just what we think they OUGHT to do. For example, it's one thing to say that everyone should travel by bicycle instead of private car ALL THE TIME and no one should EVER smoke or eat junk food or do anything that's bad for them - but that's just not going to happen! So what do we do instead?

We need to make it easier for ordinary everyday people to do the more desirable things, at least a good portion of the time, and to feel their efforts are being acknowledged. Less of the carrot and the stick; more of the incentives and deterrents, without actually outlawing most popular activities. Provide as much in the way of information and social, consultational and educational opportunities as possible and let people make up their own minds about how they will proceed.

Politically, we have so many levels of government in this country and things can end up being very polarized. What doesn't always work well is executive federalism, where the Prime minister meets with the Premiers or the Health Ministers or the Finance Ministers of the provinces and territories (and lately often with indigenous leaders, which is at least a step in the right direction). Individual Canadians feel very much excluded from the process as in fact they are, with no MP or MPP or local councillor or other constituency person to represent them.

But there are many issues that transcend party lines. I'd like to see more collaboration between politicians of different political stripes. All-party committees, special committees, public consultations, even more good old-fashioned constituency work on the part of our representatives at all levels.

I know I've lapsed into generalities again here, but I'll close with one specific example. While I'm unlikely to vote Conservative any time soon, I definitely applaud the private member's bill of our local Conservative MPP, Jeremy Roberts, which aims to get rid of the nonsense and aggravation of changing our clocks twice a year. And good on him for seeking collaboration with Quebec and New York State!

Of course, we'll need to backtrack on that message of changing the batteries in smoke alarm and CO detectors at the same time as we change the clocks! I wonder what they do in Saskatchewan?

On the horns of a pandemic, are we moving from Naomi Klein's concept of "disaster capitalism" to one of "disaster socialism"? That's what J.P. Hornick suggests in an article on the Our Times site:

https://ourtimes.ca/article/collective-good-over-private-profit

If you lean to the far right of the political spectrum, you may feel that social programs should be targeted only to those in the direst need. Perhaps you subscribe to the notion of "deserving poor" versus "undeserving poor".

Centrists may view social programs as a safety net that should be available to any people who fall on hard times, but see the ultimate goal as getting these people into paid employment, independence and self-sufficiency.

Another view is that it's strictly a matter of individual choice. Every human being should have a certain minimum standard of living. Beyond that, it's up to us to decide what gives our lives meaning, whether that's starting our own business, working for others in paid or unpaid employment, creating art, music or literature, pursuing life-long learning opportunities or whatever.

The idea of a guaranteed annual income or universal basic income is certainly not new. But it is gaining traction at a time when we ALL have seen our lives turned upside down. People who never thought they would need a "handout" or even a hand up suddenly realize that emergencies like Covid 19 do not bypass the rich or the middle class, although they certainly are far more brutal for those who were already disadvantaged.

The concept cuts across partisan political lines, although the different parties may suggest implementing it in different ways. Below is a 2016 paper by David Macdonald of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a progressive think tank probably best known for its Alternative Budget.

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2016/10/Policymakers_Guide_to_Basic_Income.pdf

Then in 2018, Walrus magazine published an article on it, referencing an experiment in 1970s Manitoba:

https://thewalrus.ca/does-a-guaranteed-annual-income-actually-work/

But it's certainly not only left-leaning commentators who favour a basic income. Conservative Senator Hugh Segal recently wrote a book called Boot Straps Need Boots in which he expands and expounds on his vision of a guaranteed income. He was interviewed about a month ago on CBC radio:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-march-29-2020-1.5509908/amidst-a-global-pandemic-hugh-segal-s-call-for-a-guaranteed-annual-income-is-even-more-timely-1.5509938

I do think that a guaranteed basic income can be an important hallmark of a progressive society. But I'd like to see something more than just throwing money at the problem.

When I started working for the federal public service back in the 1970s, I considered my salary to be fairly decent, even though I was in a female-dominated group which didn't fully achieve pay equity until 2000. But we didn't have a lot in the way of benefits. The employer paid half of our provincial health premium. But there was no supplemental health care plan or prescription drug coverage or dental plan. We did get maternity leave but we were taken off the payroll while on leave and could only get 15 weeks of unemployment insurance after a 2-week wait. And we had to be back at work by the time the baby was six months old, or the job would not still be waiting for us.

Things have progressed since then. But given that so many people now are in precarious work situations - part-time or occasional work, home-based businesses, the gig economy - I think we need portable benefits packages that are not specific to a particular employer. The idea of a job for life is largely a thing of the past.

We all need health care and dental care. We all need to be protected in the event that our employer goes bankrupt. We all need various forms of insurance in case some costly unforeseen catastrophe befalls us.

The Canadian Emergency Response Benefit is very necessary. It's already helping some people who have had their livelihoods disrupted by Covid 19. But many more find themselves falling through the cracks. It's fighting fires when perhaps it would have been better to take sensible precautions in the first place.

A basic income could be part of this sensible precautionary framework. But it's not the only element we need.