income support for low-income households in Alberta

Next week, Jason Kenney’s UCP government will table its second budget. With that in mind, I’ve written a blog post titled “Ten things to know about income support for low-income households in Alberta.”

Points raised in the blog post include the following:

-Low income is associated with lower food expenditures, including fewer purchases of milk, fruits and vegetables.

-Lone-parent families in Alberta experience very high rates of poverty.

-Child poverty dropped sharply in Alberta dropped between 2015 and 2017, due in part to the introduction of the Alberta Child Benefit, and in part to the enhancement of federal child benefits.

-In November 2018, the NDP government of Rachel Notley government announced major changes to three of Alberta’s income assistance programs.

-Today, benefit levels for Alberta’s income support programs do not vary by community in Alberta, despite large differences in the cost of living.

The link to the full blog post is here.