poverty and increase individuals’ sense of economic security. Though no
longer as prevalent as it was in Canada’s past and still is in many other
countries, poverty remains a matter of real concern to Canadian
policymakers.
Statistics Canada defines the poverty line or low-income cutoff as the
level of income below which the typical household spends more than 63
percent of its income on the three necessities of food, shelter, and
clothing. (The average Canadian household spends only 43 percent of its
income on these three necessities.) Not surprisingly, this poverty line
varies depending on the size of the family and where it lives. In 2016,
Statistics Canada’s estimated poverty line for a family of four living in a
major urban centre was $39 092. A family of four with after-tax income
less than this amount would be defined to be living in poverty. In 2016,
8.1 percent of families had incomes below Statistics Canada’s estimated
poverty line. This percentage includes some of the working poor, whether
stuck in low-paying jobs or doing their first job; some who were not
working at all; and some whose incomes were only temporarily below the
poverty line, such as students or trainees.
There is considerable debate, however, about the methods used to
estimate poverty. Central to this debate is whether poverty is best viewed
as an absolute or a relative concept. If poverty is viewed as an absolute
concept, then anybody without enough income to purchase a certain
amount of food, shelter, and clothing is said to be in poverty. With such
an absolute definition of poverty, sufficient growth in the economy could,