KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – The newest provincial welfare stats are in: In Nova Scotia in 2018 the very poor get poorer once again.

Each year Maytree releases a Welfare in Canada report, showing total incomes of people in welfare across Canada. 

Total income here means the social assistance income, plus whatever tax credits and child benefits recipients qualify for.

The report looks at four example households in each province.

• Single person considered employable
• Single person with a disability
• Single parent with one child age two
• Couple with two children ages 10 and 15

In Nova Scotia all four example households are on a downward slope relative to the previous years. In other words, people on social assistance are getting poorer.  

From 2015 to 2017, the maximum welfare incomes of households with children rose, largely as a result of changes to federal child benefits. In 2018, the welfare incomes of both household types decreased again.

So how do these dollar figures translate into real world living conditions?

There are several ways people measure poverty. The Market Basket Measure or MBM) is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. MBM includes the cost of food, clothing, footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses. It’s not a perfect measure, but it’s useful nonetheless.

Here is the table that compares what you need to meet that basic standard of living, and what you actually receive. The scenarios apply to people who live in Halifax, because MBM is calculated on a community basis.

The gap between what you need and what you get is huge.

A single person deemed employable receives only 39% of what she should receive to live a half-decent life! A person with a disability only gets slightly more than half that amount, and is short $8,856 per year!

Even a couple with two children, comparatively well-off in Nova Scotia, only receives 73% of what is required and should receive an additional $10,400!

This is the saddest graphic of all. It shows how Nova Scotia compares to other provinces .

Well, we are lowest for the single employable individual, lowest for the individual with a disability, lowest for a single parent with one child, but wait, we’re only third lowest for the couple with two kids.

I have been writing these stories since my Halifax Media Co-op days. They’re always very depressing, especially when you consider how year after year the Joanne Bernards and Kelly Regans of this world assure us things would get better.

And it never happens.   

Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly suggested that the numbers in the Maytree report did not reflect inflation. Corrected on November 18, 2019, 13:40 pm.

See also: Welfare recipients keep getting poorer in Canada’s most miserly province

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The post In Nova Scotia incomes for people on social assistance continue downward slide in 2018 appeared first on Nova Scotia Advocate.

But if you want to measure how well one province is tackling poverty relative to other provinces, or general progress from year to year, you need something a bit more scientific.

Many poverty advocates think there is lots wrong with a new definition of poverty that the federal government wants to entrench in legislation as part of its recently announced anti-poverty strategy.

Canada’s Official Poverty Line would be based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM), the cost of a basket of goods and services that individuals and families require to meet their basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living in communities across the country.

MBM is what is called an absolute way to measure poverty. This is how much it costs to pay for food and shelter in a specific community, and people are considered to live in poverty if they can’t afford to fill the basket.

It’s hard to care about this stuff, but it is very important. How you precisely define poverty may well determine whether you are eligible for support programs, food banks, energy rebates, etc. It may even determine whether you qualify for social assistance as is the case in Quebec.

Some of the estimates the MBM uses are too low, such as the estimated cost for shelter, critics charge.

Mostly the criticism focuses what goes into the MBM basket, and what’s left out.

“Some vital daily costs …  like child care or prescription medication, are designated as “out of pocket” expenses, not basic needs. While these are costs that many families in Canada consider indispensable, the MBM does not treat them as such,” writes Michèle Biss, who works for Canada Without Poverty.

Student and other debts you carry also are not considered, Bliss writes.

Statistics Canada is asking for input on the proposed poverty measure. You can find their survey here.

Dignity for All, a coalition of Canadian anti-poverty groups, has put together a tool that is helpful if you want to respond to the Stats Can questions.

The deadline of January 31 is coming up fast.

If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia.

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