Human Resources committee  Yes, and we can provide you the actual numbers.

Human Resources committee  Yes, in 1992. So it's starting to look a bit more like an absolute measure than a relative measure.

Human Resources committee  For the urban-rural, we can provide some numbers, but you'll see a big difference whether you use the LICO and the MBM. Part of it is because of transportation, which has a different component. There is also the cost of food--for example, in Newfoundland, the basket is higher tha

Human Resources committee  Actually, it used to be more of a relative measure. However, the last time we rebased the basket was in 1992, and now we index it to inflation. So it's starting to look more--

Human Resources committee  The committee might be interested to know that Quebec has a law to measure social exclusion and poverty. Information on this legislation can be found on the CEPE, the Centre d'étude sur la pauvreté et l'exclusion du Québec Website. The Centre compared Quebec and Belgium. Committe

Human Resources committee  I don't have that type of information.

Human Resources committee  That is a good question, and somewhat complicated. It involves two separate methodologies. I will explain the main differences with Quebec. First, there are the thresholds, which along with the basket of food, as I explained, represent the housing cost. We know that housing is le

Human Resources committee  There are definitely limitations with the LICOs. Because the cities are all together, the 500,000-plus, the MBM in that sense gives us a more detailed breakdown. We're working closely with HRSDC to see at some point if we can release MBM at the same time as the LICO. I think Sta

Human Resources committee  I'm not going to comment on the choice of measure. I'll provide you with statistical background, but we wouldn't want to say. But for sure, the MBM provides more geographical detail, and to my mind it's a good thing.

Human Resources committee  Yes, but I wouldn't want to comment, because Statistics Canada's role is in providing the data and the support on the issue. We feel that the definition, the choice of the measure, has to be done through the political system. That's why we wouldn't want to define it. If the MBM w

Human Resources committee  Of course, along with the LICO. As has been mentioned before, the LICO has the time history and I think it's an important thing.

Human Resources committee  We could provide both. If the government decided this was becoming the official measure, what would have to be put in place is probably an agreement on the methodology and also how regularly it would be updated, the mechanism for a transparent update. What you need are the nec

Human Resources committee  The MBM. They're going for the MBM.

Human Resources committee  But we do have some numbers for low-income single-parent males and single-parent females. We can provide you with those.

Human Resources committee  It is actually our last slide. The rest is all supplementary background.