CommonWealth Summary - April 2026

This document summarizes key updates and ongoing activities from the commonwealth Slack channel.

BIEN Canada Day/Congress 2026

Chris Ford Hosting: Chris Ford has offered his office at Electric Mind for a BIEN Canada Day evening meetup on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Further details are forthcoming.
Collaboration with BIEN Organizers: UBI Works is partnering with BIEN for the 2026 Congress in Toronto. Key areas of focus include:
- Driving Canadian proposal submissions for the Congress. Sheila has emphasized the need for quality Canadian proposals.
- Identifying and inviting influential “Moonshot” speakers and personalities who publicly support basic income.
- Developing a comprehensive communications and marketing plan for the Congress, leveraging UBI Works’ large base.
Canada Day Event: A separate daytime event is planned for August 19 (the day before the official Congress), offering lower ticket prices ($25).
Talk Submissions: Ken Yang plans to submit proposals on “Job Automation / Post-Labor Economy” and “Movement Building (GBI vs. UBI).” There’s also a potential submission from Floyd/Liam on Land Value Tax (LVT).
Film Proposal: Conrad Shaw and Scott Santens have proposed screening their film at the Congress, with plans to rent HotDocs.

Eric Lombardi Meetup: A successful Toronto housing and LVT meetup with Eric Lombardi saw a good turnout (80 RSVPs). Ken’s introductory presentation was well-received by housing advocates.
Upcoming Events: Planning is underway for joint events with TO New Liberals and More Neighbours TO.
Meetup Sign-ups: Transitioning from Typeform to Google Forms for meetup sign-ups due to cost-effectiveness and user-friendly experience; a new template has been created for Vancouver.
Past Meetup Carousel: A reusable carousel displaying past Common Wealth meetups has been developed.

UBI in a Post-Labor Economy Interview: An interview with David Shapiro and Dalibor Petrovic on this topic has been recorded and will be released soon.
Alaska Interview Promotion: Social media has been utilized to promote an interview discussing Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend as a model of UBI.
Geoffrey Hinton Interview: Dr. Geoffrey Hinton has agreed to an interview about AI and job displacement, marking a significant upcoming discussion.
Lobbying with Hinton’s Video: There is discussion about using the Hinton interview video as a lobbying tool for MPs and MPPs.
Georgism Community on Digg: A new community for Georgism has been established on Digg to secure the URL.
Yanis Varoufakis Engagement: An email related to Yanis Varoufakis has been sent to subscribers, focusing on themes like universal dividends and modern feudalism. Further discussion on his content is planned.
Martin Adams’s Book Event: Draft invitations for Vancouver contacts regarding Martin Adams’s Indigo book signing on April 27.

Social Media Captioning: Discussion regarding the limitations of new Newmode in tailoring social media captions for different platforms, leading to a decision to standardize on including X handles.
Tariff Fallout Campaign: An idea for a campaign linking tariff fallout to the need for self-reliance and LVT.
Activist Letters: Consideration of open-ended letters versus forms for collecting advocate stories.
Native Newmode Hosting: UBI Works is natively hosting several Newmode tools on its site for enhanced metadata control.