Canada aims to reduce poverty to 50% below 2015 levels by the year 2030. Are we on track for this ambitious goal?
The federal Poverty Reduction Act (2019) set the goal to reduce poverty to 50% below 2015 levels by the year 2030. To hit this target, Canada’s national poverty rate must drop to 7.25%.
In 2020, Canada hit its target early, reaching 6.4%. This temporary win was due to the number of Canadians receiving one-time benefits (like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit) during the pandemic. The latest data shows that the poverty rate has climbed back up to 10.2%. The 2025 report showed significant issues, including increases in rates of deep income poverty (where family income is below 75% of Canada’s poverty line) and food insecurity (where people are forced to eat less, skip meals, or choose low-quality foods).
Federal Approaches: Direct payments, tax credits, and strategic funding
The federal government’s power to tackle poverty is limited. It has financial spending power, but little direct authority to make laws about key areas of poverty. Most poverty-related conflicts (employment, evictions, homelessness) and solutions (housing, education, childcare) fall under provincial authority.
The federal government’s most effective tools send money directly to citizens. These include:
- The Canada Child Benefit (formerly Child Tax Benefit)
Helps lift hundreds of thousands of children and families out of poverty every year. - Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement
Both help keep poverty rates for seniors low. With these supports, poverty for seniors is lower than that of the general population. - Canada Workers Benefit
Acts as a wage supplement for low-income workers, encouraging ongoing participation in the workforce. - New: Canada Disability Benefit (CDB)
Launched in June 2025 to help working-age Canadians with long-term disabilities.
The success of the CDB depends on whether provinces take back their own supports when individuals receive federal money. BC allows the Canada Disability Benefit to be added as a top-up to provincial funding, while Alberta holds back 100% of provincial benefits for people who receive the federal payment.
Provincial Approaches to Social Supports Vary
Where the federal government lacks the power to pass laws, it sends money directly to the provinces. In 2026-27, the federal government will transfer $9.2 billion to the Government of Alberta. The Canada Social Transfer is one such fund, sent to provinces to support social programs.
The federal government has little control over how each province designs its programs. As seen in the CDB example, British Columbia and Alberta have taken quite different approaches to social aid, despite receiving the same amount of federal funding per person.
British Columbia: Formal targets and a focus on daily support
BC is one of the only provinces that has passed a law binding its government to poverty reduction goals. The province has heavily invested in non-cash supports to individuals, like free public transit for children and caps on annual rent increases. The Homes for People plan offers rent assistance for low-income families and seniors and an annual rebate for renters.
Alberta: Emphasizing the job market
Alberta does not have a formal poverty reduction target or province-wide rent assistance. Low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities can apply to local affordable housing programs, with income thresholds that vary by municipality. The Edmonton program has a wait list of more than 10,000 people.
Alberta’s minimum wage of $15/hr has not increased in 8 years. Alberta is also the only province without automatic annual wage increases tied to the cost of living in Canada. A 2025 report found the current living wage (the wage a person must earn to afford basic expenses) to be $22.30 in Edmonton and $26.50 in Calgary.
Most single minimum wage workers cannot qualify for provincial income supports. Alberta’s answer to this problem is a new 8% tax bracket for the first $60,000 of individual income. Introduced in 2025, this tax relief strategy helps low-income workers keep more of their paycheck. The change brings the income tax rate for the lowest-paid Albertans in line with the general tax rate that corporations pay in the province.
Reducing Poverty Depends on the Provinces
The federal government’s supports have helped to create a floor for poverty for some Canadians. With affordability of basic needs becoming a growing concern in Canada, year-over-year increases in housing costs and a frozen minimum wage leave many Albertans still struggling. Single working-age adults see the fewest social supports and face the highest rates of deep poverty. The federal government cannot solve poverty for everyone because it does not control laws governing work, rent, and provincial social aid. Those gaps in the national safety net can only be filled by the provinces.
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DISCLAIMER The information in this article was correct at time of publishing. The law may have changed since then. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of LawNow or the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.
About Lindsey Zess
