By Canadian Press

Statistics Canada set to reveal new data on poverty rates

Feb 24, 2020 | 3:03 AM

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada will lay out today how many Canadians live below the country’s low-income threshold as part of an updated portrait of poverty.

The results will be closely watched today by the federal Liberals, who have touted their work on reducing the number of people living in poverty since 2015.

The poverty figures for 2018 will be the most recent available and are key benchmarks to track the government’s anti-poverty strategy.

Today’s release will have an added twist: the statistics office will also unveil proposed changes to how it calculates the poverty line, including how the revised formula would affect the numbers from the last several years.

Experts have said the changes would likely increase the number of Canadians regarded as living below the official poverty line.

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The Market Basket Measure, as it is known, calculates the minimum a person or family would have to earn to afford a basket of goods and services needed to reach a modest or basic living standard.

However, the made-in-Canada measure hasn’t been updated since 2008, and doesn’t include things like the cost of wireless services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press