Social Policy Trends: Canada’s Official Poverty Line

Abstract

On August 21st, the federal government announced that for the first time Canada would adopt an official poverty line.Statistics Canada currently produces three measures meant to identify when someone is in poverty: the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), the Market Basket Measure (MBM), and the Low Income Measure (LIM). None of these measures have ever been identified by the Government of Canada as an “official” poverty line. Significant differences in these measures have caused confusion over such basic questions as to how many people might be considered to be experiencing poverty and by how much would their income need to be raised to lift them from poverty.