Column one shows the total welfare incomes of four different types of households in the largest city in the ten provinces in 2003. The three territories are not included in this table because they are specifically excluded from the survey used to generate the low income cut-offs which the National Council of Welfare uses as the poverty line. Column two indicates the estimated 2003 poverty line (Statistics Canada’s low income cut-offs, 1992 base) for the largest city in each province. The third column represents the total welfare income as a percentage of the poverty line, that is, total welfare income divided by the poverty line. For example welfare incomes for single employable people remained by far the least adequate during 2003. The welfare income for this household type ranged from a low of 20 percent of the poverty line in New Brunswick to a high of 44 percent of the poverty line in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Fact Sheet