What do you cut when there's nothing to spare?
Toronto Star
By Carol Goar
2009/10/09

Unless you belong to the lucky minority of Canadians that is immune to economic upheaval, you've probably cut back this year….

You might even have thought: Now I have an inkling of the way low-income Canadians live.

Think again, says Steve Kerstetter, a social policy researcher who has just completed a comprehensive analysis of the spending patterns of the rich and the poor.

Would you go without eyeglasses? Would you give up dental care? Would you disconnect your computer? Could you feed your family on $10.35 a day?

"In every major type of spending surveyed, the poorest 20 per cent of Canadian households live in worlds far removed from the richest 20 per cent," Kerstetter says. "There is no reason to believe the pattern will change in the foreseeable future without sweeping changes in public policy."

His study, The Affordability Gap: Spending Differences between Canada's Rich and Poor, was commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think-tank that has embarked on a multi-year project to explore the consequences of the growing gap between rich and poor.

The language of the report is prosaic and the overall trends won't surprise anyone. But the specifics are fascinating. Item by item, Kerstetter converts the abstract concept of income equality into tangible buying decisions.

Using data from Statistics Canada, he divides the population into five income segments (quintiles). He then tracks spending on more than 200 goods and services – from vending machine snacks to sports equipment – across all five groups.

Here are a few of his findings:

Only 29 per cent of households in the poorest fifth of the population go to the dentist. In the richest quintile, 64 per cent get regular dental care.

Eyeglasses are too expensive for 64 per cent of households in the poorest quintile. Almost no one in the richest quintile forgoes eye care.

Internet access is out of reach for 66 per of families in the bottom quintile. It is virtually universal in the top quintile.

In the poorest segment of the population, 2 per cent of families use paid child care. In the richest group, the proportion is 15 per cent….

The average Canadian family spends $7,305 a year on food (10.4 per cent of its total expenditures). A family in the poorest quintile spends $3,870 (16.9 per cent). A household in the richest quintile spends $11,321 a year (7.9 per cent)….