Universal basic income improved lives in rural Canada when they tried it in the '70s. Here's why the program got scrapped.

• A rural Canadian town gave its residents a type of universal basic income for three years.
• The program improved residents' health and educational outcomes.
• The study can still teach us lessons about the benefits of universal basic income, an expert says.

For four years in the late 1970s, Canada's Manitoba province ran a program called the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment, or MINCOME.

It was a guaranteed annual income program, which typically channels funds to people based on their income. In many cities throughout Manitoba, only a certain number of people could participate in the program.