Question Period Note: POVERTY AMONG SENIORS IN CANADA

Seniors living in poverty

• We are committed to improving the quality of life for seniors now and for generations to come.
• The Government has made significant investments to reduce poverty among seniors, including increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) for the lowest income single seniors, and increasing the Old Age Security (OAS) pension for seniors 75 and older. Retirement benefits are also indexed quarterly to help keep up with the rising cost of living.
• Our poverty reduction efforts are working. The poverty rate among seniors decreased from 7.1% in 2015 to 5.0% in 2023.

The Government has made significant investments and adopted measures to reduce poverty among seniors.

The Government restored the age of eligibility from 67 to 65 for both the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), which helped 100,000 seniors aged 65 and 66 to avoid plunging into poverty.

To help seniors who are living in poverty or are most at risk of living in poverty, the Government enhanced the GIS in 2016 by increasing the amount received by up to $947 annually for the most vulnerable single seniors and helping improve the financial security of 900,000 seniors who rely almost exclusively on the OAS pension and the GIS and providing up to almost $1,150 in additional benefits 2023, indexed to inflation every quarter.

In July 2022, the Government increased the OAS pension by 10 percent for seniors 75 years and older, to provide more than $800 in new support to full pensioners over the first year, and increased benefits for more than 3 million seniors.

The Market Basket Measure (MBM)
The MBM is a made-in-Canada measure that received broad support from Canadians, including academic experts, during the public engagement process for Canada’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy. As a result, the Poverty Reduction Act (2019) established the MBM as Canada’s Official Poverty Line and defined poverty reduction targets based on the measure.

The MBM establishes poverty thresholds based on the costs of a basket of goods and services that individuals and families require to meet their basic needs and achieve a basic, modest standard of living.

According to the MBM methodology, an individual or family is considered to be living in poverty if their disposable income (the income remaining after unavoidable expenses have been removed) is insufficient to purchase the goods and services included in the basket. MBM disposable income is calculated by deducting expenses such as pension plan contributions, medical expenses, spousal support payments, child care expenses, etc. from after-tax income.

As an absolute measure of low income, when the incomes of lower-income individuals rise, poverty rates calculated using the MBM tend to fall, because more people can afford the basket, everything else being equal.

Table 1: Poverty rates in Canada for persons aged 65 years and over by province, 2015, 2022 and 2023
Canada’s Official Poverty Line, 2018-MBM base
2015 2022 2023
Canada overall (provinces) 7.1% 6.0% 5.0%
Newfoundland and Labrador 8.8% 5.5% 5.1%
Prince Edward Island 13.2% 8.6% 5.4%
Nova Scotia 10.4% 10.4% 8.6%
New Brunswick 11.2% 8.2% 7.3%
Quebec 6.8% 2.9% 3.1%
Ontario 6.1% 6.7% 5.3%
Manitoba 5.9% 6.3% 4.6%
Saskatchewan 6.1% 4.9% 4.7%
Alberta 3.1% 5.6% 4.2%
British Columbia 11.7% 8.7% 7.2%
Source: Canadian Income Survey
Note: Data is not available for those living in Territories.

Food insecurity among seniors

• Our Government recognizes that food insecurity and food prices have been on the rise, putting pressure on household finances, including those of vulnerable seniors, and making it more difficult for many families to consistently afford nutritious food.
• Budget 2024 announced measures to help make life more affordable including giving more power to the Competition Bureau to crack down on unfair practices.

If pressed on whether the Market Basket Measure or MBM accurately measures poverty among seniors

• The MBM was adopted as Canada’s Official Poverty Line following extensive consultations with and support from Canadians and experts across the country.

• The MBM is an absolute measure of poverty that measures the ability of an individual or family to purchase a basket of goods and services required to meet a modest, basic standard of living. A major strength of the MBM is that it is sensitive to regional differences in the cost of living.

• On May 1, 2025, Statistics Canada published “The proposed methodology for the 2023-base Market Basket Measure of poverty.” The paper marks the conclusion of the analytical phase of the Third Comprehensive Review of the Market Basket Measure (MBM), to ensure that Canada’s Official Poverty Line continues to reflect a modest, basic living standard over time, and proposes several updates and improvements for the upcoming MBM methodology for the provinces and territories, to be known as the ‘2023-base’ of the MBM.