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1. I would like if this had a citation. Any citation. 2. I'd like to see a rather more sophisticated breakdown of where the poverty has been reduced. Has pover

1. I would like if this had a citation. Any citation. 2. I'd like to see a rather more sophisticated breakdown of where the poverty has been reduced. Has poverty gone done universally across all groups? Including First Nations? This opinion piece puts a lot of emphasis on grassroots community-level change starting the ball rolling, but has that actually happened on the Prairies or the Atlantic provinces?

perardi 8y ago
To expand on this: I'm a relatively recent US -> Canada immigrant, and I've already learned to be skeptical of a source that talks about "Canada" as some monolithic country. There's a world of difference between Toronto and Thunder Bay, even though they're in the same province. When Brooks uses stats that says poverty has declined, is that truly across the board, or is that just in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor? Because the urban-rural divide here is just as stark as in the States, and just saying "Canada" doesn't capture the spectrum of lifestyles here.
- chawco 8y ago
  On the one hand, sure, this is true. On a deeper level this is just a criticism that the methods may not apply across the whole population -- that they may not be able to reduce the rate to 0. Fair enough. But given that more than 80% of Canada's population lives in urban centers, and indeed, that about half the country lives in the corridor you mentioned (Windsor-Quebec City corridor), it's a really good start, and may yield many more dividends yet.
- hi5eyes 8y ago
  thunder bay/a lot of the east really shows the contrast between toronto/west end development and other areas
smnrchrds 8y ago
I live in Canada and I have no idea what this opinion piece is talking about. You would expect such an impressive improvement to be on the front page of every news agency, and the institute behind it become a household name. Yet this is the first time I am hearing about either of those. I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on the claims.
- rwj 8y ago
  It has been in the news in Canada, it just doesn't make the front page. Steven Pinker talks about this; slow steady improvements aren't reported because no one writes stories with the headline, "10 fewer people starved today", even though over time this can be a significant reduction in suffering. If it bleeds it leads...
KLK2019 8y ago
Citation below: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2019/03/canada-reaches-lowest-poverty-rate-in-history.html https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/... With further breakdown: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190226/dq190226b-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190226/dq190... It seems to me the key drivers are increase in guaranteed income supplements and the child tax benefits. Also believe the economy in urban centres have been doing quite well combined with highly educated workforce. As others have mentioned nobody feels better off, the dramatic increase in housing prices makes everyone feel as if we are living worse off then before. However I believe the housing crisis isn't due to immigration alone but a combination of factors including low interest rates, increase in personal income, limited desirable housing supply due to poor public transit investment and bad planning policy in the urban centres.

perardi 8y ago

To expand on this: I'm a relatively recent US -> Canada immigrant, and I've already learned to be skeptical of a source that talks about "Canada" as some monolithic country. There's a world of difference between Toronto and Thunder Bay, even though they're in the same province. When Brooks uses stats that says poverty has declined, is that truly across the board, or is that just in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor? Because the urban-rural divide here is just as stark as in the States, and just saying "Canada" doesn't capture the spectrum of lifestyles here.

chawco 8y ago
On the one hand, sure, this is true. On a deeper level this is just a criticism that the methods may not apply across the whole population -- that they may not be able to reduce the rate to 0. Fair enough. But given that more than 80% of Canada's population lives in urban centers, and indeed, that about half the country lives in the corridor you mentioned (Windsor-Quebec City corridor), it's a really good start, and may yield many more dividends yet.
hi5eyes 8y ago
thunder bay/a lot of the east really shows the contrast between toronto/west end development and other areas

smnrchrds 8y ago

I live in Canada and I have no idea what this opinion piece is talking about. You would expect such an impressive improvement to be on the front page of every news agency, and the institute behind it become a household name. Yet this is the first time I am hearing about either of those. I would appreciate it if someone could shed some light on the claims.

rwj 8y ago
It has been in the news in Canada, it just doesn't make the front page. Steven Pinker talks about this; slow steady improvements aren't reported because no one writes stories with the headline, "10 fewer people starved today", even though over time this can be a significant reduction in suffering. If it bleeds it leads...

KLK2019 8y ago

Citation below: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2019/03/canada-reaches-lowest-poverty-rate-in-history.html https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/... With further breakdown: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190226/dq190226b-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190226/dq190... It seems to me the key drivers are increase in guaranteed income supplements and the child tax benefits. Also believe the economy in urban centres have been doing quite well combined with highly educated workforce. As others have mentioned nobody feels better off, the dramatic increase in housing prices makes everyone feel as if we are living worse off then before. However I believe the housing crisis isn't due to immigration alone but a combination of factors including low interest rates, increase in personal income, limited desirable housing supply due to poor public transit investment and bad planning policy in the urban centres.