Human Resources committee  The funding that is provided to the provinces and territories is through the Canada social transfer. It's designated to support provinces in the creation of child care spaces, and these are the public announcements that the provinces have made.

Human Resources committee  Budget 2007 provided additional funding to the provinces and territories to support the creation of child care spaces, so that funding has been made available. Since that time the provinces have made announcements that amount to over 60,000 spaces being created. British Columbia

Human Resources committee  Could Mr. Murphy elaborate?

Human Resources committee  Budget 2008 just increased the rate of earning exemptions from $500 to $3,500. To the best of my knowledge, we have not done any estimates on that, but we could check and see. We have estimates on what we hope the impact would be, but obviously we would have to wait for some time

Human Resources committee  There are 48 cities or communities for which the MBM has been developed. We'll provide a report, through the researchers, that will describe in more detail each of the elements of the basket.

Human Resources committee  [Inaudible--Editor]...the detail with our colleagues at Stats Canada for those in persistent poverty, those who are male- and female-headed.

Human Resources committee  Researchers have done all kinds of work on the issue, but it's more a government decision. In those countries like the U.K. and Ireland that have chosen to identify a particular measure, it was a government decision. So I think the advantage of what Canada as well as other juri

Human Resources committee  As well, Newfoundland is considering the MBM in terms of its targets for moving forward. So it seems each jurisdiction needs to make its own choice in terms of how it decides against what its anti-poverty strategy would be used to measure progress.

Human Resources committee  I would say it's more to measure progress. They say they're using this indicator. I don't believe any of the provincial jurisdictions have said, “This is our official measure”. They've used the indicators in order to measure progress against their strategies. The only countries

Human Resources committee  And the U.S., yes.

Human Resources committee  Very much they tend to be in the minimum wage service sector, and we have more detailed studies we can provide.

Human Resources committee  Obviously those issues of where we're going with the programs are up to the government to determine. We'll support them with the information they require in terms of that decision.

Human Resources committee  Yes. As you rightly pointed out, there is no unanimity among researchers, policy advisors, or, I would even say, governments, as to what poverty is and how best to measure it. That's why most countries, like Canada, have developed this suite of measures that allow for different t

Human Resources committee  It varies very much in terms of the income security systems that are available, as we highlighted in all the presentations. In terms of seniors, we have a very generous income security support for seniors. Another issue, in terms of the Canadian situation, is that we have a lar

Human Resources committee  That's under housing costs. I'll ask our expert, Mr. Murphy, to elaborate on what's in the basket.