Court upholds Ontario government’s decision to cancel basic income pilot project

TORONTO – An Ontario court has denied a request that it quash the provincial government’s decision to cancel a basic income pilot project.

In a decision released Thursday, a panel of three Superior Court judges ruled the court has “no power” to reverse the move made by the Progressive Conservative government last summer.

The Tories announced in July they were cancelling the project, which provided a guaranteed annual income to participants in three Ontario cities: Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay.

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The previous Liberal government had announced the project in April 2017, with the intent of making it a three-year study.

WATCH: What’s at stake in Lindsay with the cancellation of of the Ontario Basic Income Project

4:22 What’s at stake in Lindsay with the cancellation of of the Ontario Basic Income Project.

After it was cancelled, a group of four basic income recipients sought a judicial review to quash the government’s decision, saying it adversely affected their well-being.

But in their written decision, the judges say they have “no power to review the considerations which motivate a cabinet policy decision.”