Social assistance programs vary across jurisdictions but a report by the thinktank Maytree has found that the highest total welfare income of a single person considered employable was in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The $11,345 per year as of 2019 exceeds all other provinces with PEI not far behind at $11,245 per year. In New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, there were no changes in social assistance payments between 2018 and 2019, and households in those provinces saw only small shifts in their welfare incomes through child benefits and tax credit programs.
Even where incomes were highest, they fell short of the poverty threshold. The closest was in Quebec where the welfare income of a couple with two children living in Montreal reached 92 percent of the poverty threshold.
Thirty-seven of the 40 scenario households receiving social assistance were living in deep poverty. Even single persons on state assistance where payments were highest were at just 51 percent of the poverty threshold.