Ottawa West-Nepean NDP hosted a Forum on Basic Income on April 10, open to all Ottawa area NDP members. Many interested citizens came out, from as far away as Kingston, Ontario.
The forum was emceed by Jamie Masse, and included a panel of experts on the subject:
- Daniel Blaikie, MP for Elmwood — Transcona
- Angella MacEwen, Senior Economist, Canadian Labour Congress
- Chandra Pasma, Policy analyst and researcher
Unfortunately Angella MacEwen in the end could not be with us in person, but did create a video presentation on Basic Income. However, we were fortunate to also have Guy Caron (MP for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques and NDP leadership candidate) as a guest speaker. Guy has made Basic Income a Priority in his bid to be our next NDP Leader. This consequently was a subject on which he had much to say.
After some very informative presentations on Basic Income from our panellists and guest speaker, the floor was opened for questions and comments from the attendees. It proved to be an interesting evening for all who could attend.