This article from CBC looks at planned changes to Canada's federally adopted low-income measure and how they could lead to a poverty rate increase.
From the article:
The national statistics office is looking at changes to the federally adopted poverty line which, if approved, could increase the number of Canadians regarded as living below the low-income threshold.
The last time the made-in-Canada measure was updated was in 2008; poverty rates increased by 2.2 per cent because the financial cut-off used to define low-income was raised.
Experts suggest that a plan by Statistics Canada to recalculate the threshold by changing the "market basket measure" early next year could lead to a similar bump in poverty rates.
The measure 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.
The Liberals adopted the measure as the country's official poverty line last year and set aside $12 million over five years to update the basket, which currently doesn't include things like wireless services.
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