AUGUST 2023 - POVERTY REDUCTION IN ALBERTA vs. ONTARIO - In 1976 and 2020, Alberta and Ontario had similar rates of poverty. In

Differences in provincial poverty rates are due to differences in income Comparing movements in provincial rates of poverty provides insights into the relative roles of government poverty reduction efforts and the ability of support policies and the ability of provincial economies to create employment provincial economies to produce employment opportunities for people at the opportunities for peop. [...] Federal income support policies, mainly in the form of pensions and child benefits, are applied equally in all provinces In 1976, the poverty rates in Ontario and Alberta were the same, at just over 11% of the and presumably have similar influences on the poverty rates in each province. [...] The difference in poverty rates in the two provinces widened during the 1980s and minimum wage policies. [...] In Ontario, the poverty rate timing of the variations in poverty rates seen in the figure suggest other peaked at 14% in 1996, before falling slightly to an average of nearly 11%, over the period explanations. [...] In 2012, the difference in provincial poverty rates was almost the same as played by differing provincial capacities to produce employment that in in 1992, only this time in Alberta’s favour.