FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


        WELFARE RECIPIENTS POORER IN 1996 THAN IN 1986


        Most people living on welfare were even poorer in 1996 than the people
living on welfare in 1986, the National Council of Welfare said in a
report published today.

        People on welfare are invariably poor, but the depth of poverty is
getting worse, says the report, Welfare Incomes 1996.

        Single employable people on welfare fared the worst in 1996, with
incomes as low as one-fifth of the poverty line.

        "It's particularly sad to think of people living alone on such miserly
incomes as the holiday season gets closer," said Armand Brun of Shediac,
New Brunswick, the Council's acting chairperson.

        Welfare Incomes 1996 is the ninth in a series of reports tracking the
annual welfare incomes of four typical households:
a single employable person, a single person with a disability,
a single parent with one child aged two, and a couple with two children
aged ten and 15.

        As in previous reports, the incomes of all four welfare households in
all provinces were well below the poverty line, as measured by
Statistics Canada's low income cut-offs (1986 base).

        Between 1995 and 1996, the standard of living for people
on welfare improved in only three of the 48 cases.  Incomes for single
disabled people in Prince Edward Island rose 0.5 percent, but remained
at 67 percent of the poverty line when the figures were rounded off.  In
Nova Scotia, the two-parent family's income rose 3.1 percent to 58
percent of the poverty live.  In Saskatchewan, the disabled person's
income rose 1.1 percent, to 62 percent of the poverty line.  All the
other welfare households got even poorer.

        Welfare incomes for single employable people remained by far the least
adequate during 1996, ranging from 19 percent of the poverty line in
Newfoundland to 43 percent of the poverty line in Nova Scotia.  The 1996
Newfoundland budget made the lower room and board rate the rule for all
single employable people, creating the largest single drop in annual
welfare incomes - 43.1 percent.

        Benefits for single disabled people ranged from 42 percent of the
poverty line in Alberta to 73 percent in Ontario.  Ontario exempted
disabled recipients from the welfare cut of October 1995.

        Welfare incomes for single-parent families ranged from a low of 50
percent in Alberta to a high of 68 percent of the poverty line in
Newfoundland.

        For two-parent families with two children, welfare incomes ranged from
48 percent of the poverty line in New Brunswick to 64 percent in Prince
Edward Island.

        Welfare Incomes 1996 shows the full impact of Ontario's 21.6 percent
welfare cut.  In October 1995, Ontario cut welfare rates for all
recipients except seniors and disabled people.  Since the Council
calculates welfare incomes using a calendar year, the 1995 calculations
for Ontario showed only three months at the lower rates.  In constant
dollars, this meant that the net decrease between 1994 and 1995 was less
than eight percent.  In 1996, the lower rates were in effect for the
full year, resulting in net decreases of nearly 18 percent between 1995
and 1996.  Between 1994 and 1996, the drop in income was nearly 24
percent.

        The year 1996 was the first year welfare came under the terms of the
Canada Health and Social Transfer or CHST.  From 1966 until March 31,
1996, the federal government paid a share of the cost of welfare and
social services under the terms of the Canada Assistance Plan or CAP.
On April 1, 1996, the federal government replaced CAP with the CHST.
The CHST is a "block fund" covering medicare and post-secondary
education as well as welfare and social services.  Ottawa's support for
these important programs taken together decreased by 9.4 percent in the
1996-97 fiscal year and will decrease by a further 6.2 percent in
1997-98.

        The Council recommends that the CHST be abolished and replaced by a
totally new package of financial agreements for social programs
including four new "cash only" deals to cover the costs of medicare,
post-secondary education, welfare and social services; legislation to
prevent the federal government from making arbitrary and unilateral
changes in any of the four cash-only deals; and firm guarantees by
provincial and territorial governments to respect minimum national
standards for welfare.

        The National Council of Welfare also recommends that welfare rates be
high enough to cover the cost of necessities of life.  Welfare rates
that amount to a small fraction of the poverty line do not allow people
the goods and services essential to a household.  Arbitrary cuts and
freezes to welfare rates erode both the standard of living of welfare
recipients, and the fairness of the welfare system as a whole.
Provincial and territorial governments could establish fair welfare
rates by developing a "market basket" of essential goods and services
and determining their cost in different communities.

        The National Council of Welfare is a citizens' advisory group to the
Minister of Human Resources Development.

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For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:

                National Council of Welfare
                2nd Floor
                1010 Somerset Street West
                Ottawa K1A 0J9
                (613) 957-2961