Smiths Falls residents are urging the provincial government to choose the town for a pilot project on guaranteed income.
The Ontario Government announced last year it will select a few communities and provide residents with a guaranteed minimum income every month.
"I really feel Smiths Falls has taken a lot of hard knocks with our factories gone," says Smiths Falls resident Darlene Kantor. "All we have in town is small businesses that can't afford to hire people. The young people in Smiths Falls have no opportunity in this town to look for a job. They can't afford a car to work out of town so they're stuck on the welfare system."
She says that system simply doesn't provide enough money for people to get by making guaranteed income so necessary.
Kantor says more than 300 people turned up for a public information meeting on the initiative Thursday evening and seemed enthusiastic about the idea. The town's mayor, Shawn Pankow, is in favour of the pilot coming to Smiths Falls, while some councillors, Kantor says, are more apprehensive. She says she believes those councillors simply haven't done the research to understand how the system would work.
"Smiths Falls in in dire straits of hunger. Children are still going to school without food," she said. "It's just going to continue getting worse. Rents are going to get higher every year. Town councillors should not refuse this issue when they see their people suffering. If I was town councillor or the Mayor, I would fight for this for my people. That's what they're there for."