The poor get poorer

The National Council of Welfare has released its estimates of welfare incomes for 2005 and the figures paint a grim picture. Their press release included the following comments:

In Alberta, the income in real dollars of a single person on welfare has decreased by almost 50 percent since 1986. Since 1992 in Ontario, the welfare income of a lone parent with one child has decreased by almost $6,600 ... When adjusted for inflation, many 2005 welfare incomes were lower than they were in 1986.... Some of the losses between the peak year and 2005 are staggering, with one-third of households losing $3,000 or more. Five provinces -- Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia -- recorded the lowest levels of welfare incomes between 2000 and 2005.... All welfare incomes continued to remain far below the poverty line .... With few exceptions, the day-to-day lives of over 1.7 million Canadians receiving welfare ... became more difficult. Half a million of those on social assistance are children.

Some observations of my own:

• Four of the five meanest provinces are in the West.
• Alberta, Canada's richest province, is the least generous to single parents with one child, offering a total income of $12,326 in 2005. The most generous was Newfoundland, offering $16,181.
• New Brunswick is the least generous to singles, offering $3,427 in 2005. Again, Newfoundland was the most generous, offering $8,198.
• As federal government surpluses have blossomed, our assistance to the less fortunate has, after inflation, declined.

Council Chairperson John Murphy calls the present situation "shameful and morally unsustainable in a rich country." Not a bad description.