Market Basket Measure - Video transcript
First, before we start, let’s play some music to set the tone – here’s one of my favorites from the Market Basket Measure…
Onscreen: "Market Basket Measure 2018-Base LP".
Ah, side A is a must!
Market Basket Measure is a handful to say, so let’s refer to it as the MBM for the remainder of this video, good?
Onscreen: "MBM".
Side A gives us a historical perspective on the MBM, so bear with me. History’s fundamental to understanding why the MBM is so important!
Onscreen: "?".
I love track 1… it breaks down the MBM. And what we need to know is that it was originally created in the early 2000s to reflect differences in living costs across Canada, and now it’s Canada’s Official Poverty Line.
Onscreen: "?".
Onscreen: "Created in the early 2000s".
Onscreen: "Poverty line".
As the MBM name would suggest, it is basket of goods and services meant to represent a modest, basic standard of living in Canada. The basket has five main components: shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and other necessities—important stuff, folks. Stay with me, this part of the song is super interesting!
Onscreen: "Shelter, food, clothing, transportation, and other necessities".
Let’s break them down!
To help: the Thompsons. Bob and his wife Dana, their 13-year-old son Brad and 9-year-old daughter, Beth. Nice family, huh? Ok, back to it.
This beautiful family needs shelter, food, clothing, transportation and a few other things.
The MBM, wherever appropriate, is built upon pre-existing standards for Canadian families. For example, shelter is based on the cost of a three-bedroom nonsubsidized rental unit and not in need of major repairs, bringing it in line with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s National Occupancy Standards. It also includes the costs of utilities, appliances and insurance.
Onscreen: "Cost of a three-bedroom nonsubsidized rental unit".
Onscreen: "Not in need of major repairs".
Onscreen: "PASS".
Onscreen: "Costs of utilities, appliances and insurance".
Now, food. Come to think of it, I’m kind of hungry. Anyways, ok, so food is based on Health Canada’s most recent National Nutritious Food Basket, which is a list of foods meant to represent a healthy diet. We’re talking fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, plant-based sources of protein, grains and fats.
Onscreen: "Health Canada’s most recent National Nutritious Food Basket".
Clothing is based on the most recent Winnipeg Harvest Acceptable Living Level clothing basket, which is a list of clothing and footwear essential for every day, work, school, and social occasions.
The transportation component is based on the combination of costs for both owning and operating a vehicle, as well as using public transportation, depending on the availability of public transportation.
Last but not least, the other necessities component does not price specific items, but is instead calculated as a percentage of the costs associated with the food and clothing components. This gives the component the flexibility to represent the costs of items deemed to be necessities for different family types.
Onscreen: "Specific items".
Onscreen: "%, food and clothing".
Time to flip that record!
You see, the costs of these five components are added up to produce a MBM threshold, which is considered to be the minimum amount of money required by a family to have a modest, basic standard of living above the poverty line. Which, I should mention, varies from coast-to-coast, and between rural and urban communities because costs do differ.
Basket costs are adjusted every year to account for inflation, while the basket undergoes a complete review and update every 5 years—it’s that important we stay on top of this.
Onscreen: "Basket costs adjusted every year".
Onscreen: "5, 2023, 2028 and 2033".
Now, let’s talk disposable income. It matters because it is the income a family has left over to purchase the goods and services found in the MBM basket after unavoidable expenses have been deducted. Disposable income encompasses so much, …check this out!
Onscreen: "Disposable income, Gross income, less direct income taxes, Employment Insurance contributions, Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan contributions, Registered pension plan contributions, Union dues and professional membership dues and malpractice liability insurance premiums, Child care expenses incurred in order to hold a paid job, Support payments paid, Public health insurance premiums, Direct medical expenses, including private insurance premiums, Tenure type adjustment and Capital gain tax adjustment".
Feel free to hit pause! OK, I’ll do it quickly for you cause—well—I can. Due to varying and shared costs for different sizes of families, a family’s disposable income is adjusted, and then compared to their MBM threshold, to determine their poverty status.
What’s that? You say, homeowners face different costs than renters? Don’t worry the MBM takes that into account, too!
Onscreen: "Homeowners face different costs than renters!".
So basically, if a family’s disposable income is less than the MBM threshold for their region, then they are considered to be living below the poverty line.
Onscreen: "Family’s disposable income < MBM threshold ".
Onscreen: "Poverty line".
This, in a nutshell, is what the MBM tells us about people across the nation. That’s why it was so important that we played this record for you.
And of course, as always, there’s so much more to say, to learn more please email us at statcan.mbm-mpc.statcan@statcan.gc.ca.
Onscreen: "statcan.mbm-mpc.statcan@statcan.gc.ca".