I'm not sure if you think about centralization in the same terms as I do. Centralization is not the degree to which government is involved in the people's lives. Or the degree to which federal government has control over the provinces. Centralization is the number of people who have a real say in government. The reason basic income is being pushed is because of decentralization (i.e., more and more people voicing their opinions about how our policies should be directed towards helping the most people possible). As for the above quotes, I don't see them as contradictory. There is a Basic Income, and so the goal nationwide is to eliminate all poverty, but it may be that technical details with the implementation of the basic income may have to be designed locally. Canada is massively diverse. Fixing poverty in Toronto is not the same as fixing poverty in Yellowknife. EDIT: Here is more information about the Liberal governments plans, and here is a study of Basic Income that was tested in Manitoba in the 1970s.
Maybe I should have worded it differently. I meant decentralization, couldn't come up with the word in my earlier comment. You're right, they're not mutually exclusive. It just seems like a weird way to do it: either have the government give everyone in Canada the same amount (with some minor adjustments here and there) or give the provinces more money to create their own Basic Income system. Nevertheless, I think this is a great step forward and I'll be eager to follow this. Here's to hope they will implement this before I go to study there in September, I could use some funding!
In the plan, it seems like they want to run 3-5 year experiments of different Basic Income plans in different cities - with control groups.