March 8, 2019
Gatineau, Quebec
Employment and Social Development Canada
In a country as prosperous as Canada, everyone should have a real and fair chance to succeed. The Government of Canada is focused on growth that benefits all Canadians, investing $22 billion since 2015 in efforts to help grow the middle class and reduce poverty.
Last week, Statistics Canada released results from the 2017 Canadian Income Survey, which revealed that the Poverty Reduction Strategy’s interim target of reducing poverty by 20 percent by 2020 had already been reached—a full three years ahead of schedule. By meeting this target, Canada has reached its lowest poverty rate in history.
The poverty rate of 9.5 percent in 2017 represents the lowest rate of poverty ever based on Canada’s Official Poverty Line (formerly known as the Market Basket Measure). This historic low poverty rate represents an important step towards the Government of Canada’s goal to cut poverty in half by 2030.
The Government of Canada is working hard to reduce the number of Canadians living in poverty and strengthen the economy. With the help of programs such as the Canada Child Benefit and the top-up to the Guaranteed Income Supplement, there were 825,000 fewer Canadians living in poverty in 2017 than there were in 2015. More are expected to be lifted out of poverty as the impacts of these investments are realized in the years to come.
(Source:Employment and Social Development Canada)