Four people who had been receiving a basic guaranteed income under a pilot project have launched a proposed class action against the Progressive Conservative government for cancelling it.
The former Liberal government announced the project in April 2017 to provide a guaranteed annual income to participants in three Ontario cities, Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay, with the intent of making it a three-year study.
The Tories announced in July that they were cancelling the project.
The lawyer for the proposed lead plaintiffs alleges in a statement of claim filed today that the early termination of basic income payments amounts to a breach of contract.
Lawyer Stephen Moreau writes that the pilot participants relied on the ministry to administer the payments, and the government owed them a duty of care.
Moreau says after the cancellation of the project, people suffered from panic attacks, anxiety and depression.