Radical Incrementalism and Trust in the Citizen: Income Security in Canada in the Time of COVID-19

This article documents Canada’s main public policy responses to promote income security among working-age adults during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis between March and early June 2020. This period of rapid policy change unfolded broadly in three phases, starting with minor adjustments to existing policy instruments, followed by larger amendments to a wider range of programs, and finally ending with the creation of new and quite generous benefits. The pathway of policy change is best described as incremental, but it resulted in a more radical shift to “trust but verify” to administer benefits rather than the pre–COVID-19 practice of verifying eligibility before paying benefits. The reasons and precedents for this decision are discussed. I conclude with some observations on the applicability and limitations of trust but verify for income security policy in the post–COVID-19 period.