It could work if they stopped with the income test bullshit. That's the whole point to it; it's free money whether you work or not, just for being a Canadian. If it's needs based, it's a social program.
If you work a full time job, even if it's McDonald's, people shouldn't be making choices between buying healthy food and paying rent. The government has given basically free mortgages to the wealthy, pushing up housing costs for everyone as everyone bids with the bank's almost interest-free money on houses.
Instead of curbing UBI after working a certain amount, they should simply make it like normal taxable income that doesn't decrease and adjust the income brackets higher so people don't get jobbed in the transition. You shouldn't be punished for working hard to put yourself through college/university and get into an upper bracket, and someone at McDonald's shouldn't be forced to use their 50% food discount to make ends meet.
Honestly... say that in exchange for letting the provinces drop social assistance and cutting transfer payments accordingly, we just give everyone $300 a week with no income checks. Cutting all of the compliance checking would save a bunch of money and the provinces aren't stuck chasing around deadbeats to make sure they look for work. The money is no longer a disincentive to work, because every Canadian who has filed taxes gets it. It would get cash out to the lower class, which will end up being spent right away anyway. It's all about that money velocity...
"What about people making $250K with dual income households, they don't deserve it!" Great, it's a taxable benefit, so they pay back most of it anyway.
The way I see it, the Canadian govt has been propping up the real estate market for a while. The duplex I'm renting, the combined (two residences in duplex) land assessment value went from $350K to $600K on a 0.2 Acre lot several blocks from Okanagan lake between 2015 and 2020. Did we have close to 100% inflation between that time? Did our wages double? No! So the banks give out larger and longer loans, pricing all Canadians out and opening the doors for the Chinese to buy up all the property. This is a crisis created by overlooking the problem. Since the govt profits off of the Chinese tax revenue, they are on the hook IMO.
Everyone would be pushed up an income bracket, there would be no personal deduction of 10 grand because everyone will be making more than that threshold. You would be pushing minimum wage workers into a higher tax brackets and they would pay more taxes as well. If you give the 'stimulus' money to the paycheque-to-paycheque crowd, they are highly likely to spend that money locally, stimulating local economy and pushing up business tax revenue.
Obviously, UBI isn't revenue-neutral, but you could eliminate social programs, transfer payments etc if the government has everyone on a minimum dole. It's the wealthy people that we have to worry about spending the money abroad, not the people living off of McDouble meals.