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How GoFundMe became everyone’s digital safety net…

The Big Story
The Big Story
Episode • Mar 15, 2021 • 22m

...and what our governments can learn from it. While crowdfunding sites were originally intended to help with getting projects off the ground, over the past decade they’ve increasingly become a last-resort for people who have fallen through the cracks of the services government provides. It’s not just raw funds that the digital safety net provides where governments don’t—it’s everything from reddit users helping you navigate complex taxes, or benefits to crowdsourced neighbourhood childcare.

Should Canadians facing eviction have to rely on going viral to stay in their homes? The obvious answer is, no, they probably shouldn’t. But they are anyway, so what should we do about it?

GUEST: Vass Bednar, Executive Director, Master of Public Policy Program at McMaster University; author of Regs 2 Riches

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