You've also asked about whether poverty amongst older women is dropping. I noted in my opening comments the drop that has taken place over the past few years. The recent measure that was introduced to provide an increase to the GIS will mean that we will make the benefit available to about 50,000 more low-income seniors, and it will reduce the LICO rate, the low-income cut-off rate, for a number of seniors from 6.9% to 6.3% when that increase is fully implemented.
You also asked about how many seniors are not receiving the guaranteed income supplement. There's a bit of a debate about the numbers on that one. You'll have seen different numbers pointed at in different reports. The GIS client base is constantly in flux because clients die, their current client experiences change in income levels or they may leave Canada for other countries, and new clients become eligible. It's hard to estimate, but there was a recent figure, in 2000, provided in the NACA report that estimated it to be.... It's a figure that is not consistent with the Statistics Canada data we have, which estimates these numbers are quite a bit lower, about 206,000.
It's hard to do an accurate assessment of the numbers, as the eligibility is also based on a number of factors, like marital status or periods of residence in Canada. It's difficult to do a precise estimate of the numbers. I can assure you we do the very best we can to reach all potential beneficiaries of the GIS, and we can describe that for you in another round if you wish.