Without going over what I said previously, I would add that the MBM was created to meet people's basic needs. If you want to eliminate or reduce poverty, you need to define that better. We think that measuring low income after taxation and transferring 60% of the median income in Canada is a better indicator than the MBM.
I will give you a very concrete example from Quebec, because I am more familiar with the statistics from that province.
In Quebec, using the MBM, a person living on his or her own would need about $18,000 per year to be considered below the poverty line. If we use the 60% low-income measure, the line would be set at $24,000 or $25,000. That's not the same amount of money and it certainly makes a difference in people's lives.
That's the reason we propose this indicator, which is more generous. Moreover, it is used in Europe and other places to make international comparisons between member states of the OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We think that this measure should be used to establish the official poverty line in Canada.
This does not preclude us from setting targets with other indicators. We have low-income indicators, but there are all sorts of tools that can be used to fight against poverty and socio-economic inequality.