A new report shows a hidden level of poverty in Canada, with a quarter of Canadians reporting they cannot buy two or more household necessities.
Using a material deprivation index (MDI) rather than the Market Basket Measure (MBM) test of household poverty, the report, published by Food Banks Canada, said that 25 percent of Canadians are living in poverty, six million more than identified in Statistics Canada’s poverty rate data, they said. The report is co-authored by Michael Mendelson, a former deputy minister in Ontario and Manitoba, and Geranda Notten, a professor of comparative public policy at the University of Ottawa