Annual rankings: 2021 to 2025
September 8, 2026
Summary
This article examines how access to free tax‑filing assistance through the CVITP varies across Canada. National coverage can be estimated directly using the national poverty count included in Statistics Canada’s annual Canadian Income Survey (CIS). But sub-national coverage is harder to measure because Statistics Canada only publishes provincial poverty counts every five years and its annual estimates of Market Basket Measure (MBM) poverty rates are not reliable for the territories. To generate annual provincial rankings, I use Statistics Canada’s provincial population estimates and MBM poverty rates to estimate the number of adults living in poverty in each province and compares these figures with CRA’s CVITP client counts.
Although this method underestimates provincial poverty totals relative to national CIS figures, the downward bias affects all provinces equally. As a result, annual provincial rankings are valid even if the absolute coverage rates cannot be compared across years. These rankings reveal persistent differences from 2021 to 2025: Ontario consistently ranks last; Québec performs better than half the provinces; the Maritime provinces consistently lead; and Newfoundland and Labrador, despite similarities to the Maritimes, consistently ranks in the bottom quarter. They also reveal a significant improvement in Manitoba’s performance.
In future articles, I will explore these provincial differences in depth and identify lessons from the better‑performing provinces while also learning from Manitoba’s experience.
How much does getting free CVITP services depend on where you live?
Each year, I publish a simple measure of how well the CVITP reaches people living in poverty across Canada. The national calculation is straightforward: I take the total number of people served by the CVITP, assume they all fall below the poverty line, and compare this with the number of adults living in poverty as reported in Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey (CIS). This produces a national coverage rate — the share of adults living in poverty who receive free CVITP tax‑filing assistance.
Doing the same calculation for the region where you live is more complicated. Poverty figures for the territories are not reliable, so only the provinces can be included. Statistics Canada does publish provincial poverty counts using census data, which allows for provincial comparisons with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) CVITP statistics, but only once every five years. There was a census in 2021 and the next set of provincial poverty counts, from the 2026 census, will not be available until early 2028.
Fortunately, there is another way to generate annual provincial rankings using other Statistics Canada datasets. The accompanying article explains this method in detail, along with its limitations.
In brief, I use Statistics Canada’s provincial population estimates together with its Market Basket Measure (MBM) poverty rates to produce annual estimates of the number of adults living in poverty in each province. As with the national calculation, I assume that all CVITP clients fall below the poverty line. I then compare the number of CVITP clients in each province with the estimated number of adults living in poverty. This yields an annual coverage rate for each province.
2021
| Province | Adults in poverty 2020 tax year | cvitp clients 2021 tax season | participation rate | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 56,100 | 20,430 | 36.4% | 3 |
| Prince Edward Island | 10,000 | 4,330 | 43.3% | 1 |
| Nova Scotia | 74,498 | 28,450 | 38.2% | 2 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 39,368 | 9,070 | 23.0% | 9 |
| Quebec | 514,171 | 147,870 | 28.8% | 5 |
| Ontario | 1,033,544 | 160,860 | 15.6% | 10 |
| Manitoba | 102,675 | 23,680 | 23.1% | 8 |
| Saskatchewan | 74,219 | 22,390 | 30.2% | 4 |
| Alberta | 264,403 | 63,330 | 24.0% | 7 |
| British Columbia | 289,947 | 79,240 | 27.3% | 6 |
| Total | 2,485,925 | 559,650 | 22.8% | |
| Canadian Income Survey1 MBM 2023 base | 2,234,000 | 574,330 | 25.7% |
2022
| province | adults in poverty 2021 tax year | cvitp clients 2022 tax season | participation rate | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 52,095 | 23,530 | 45.2% | 2 |
| Prince Edward Island | 9,800 | 5,150 | 52.6% | 1 |
| Nova Scotia | 72,790 | 31,410 | 43.2% | 3 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 38,346 | 10,810 | 28.2% | 8 |
| Quebec | 497,748 | 166,090 | 33.4% | 5 |
| Ontario | 1,010,827 | 186,450 | 18.4% | 10 |
| Manitoba | 100,529 | 28,470 | 28.3% | 7 |
| Saskatchewan | 72,803 | 26,540 | 36.5% | 4 |
| Alberta | 257,028 | 71,700 | 27.9% | 9 |
| British Columbia | 284,683 | 91,360 | 32.1% | 6 |
| Total | 2,396,649 | 641,510 | 26.8% | |
| Canadian Income Survey MBM 2023 base1 | 2,539,000 | 649,420 | 25.6% |
2023
| province | adults in poverty 2022 tax year | cvitp clients 2023 tax season | participation rate | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 66,443 | 27,880 | 42.0% | 3 |
| Prince Edward Island | 10,000 | 6,050 | 60.5% | 1 |
| Nova Scotia | 72,946 | 35,180 | 48.2% | 2 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 38,452 | 12,870 | 33.5% | 9 |
| Quebec | 493,260 | 184,370 | 37.4% | 5 |
| Ontario | 1,002,090 | 224,640 | 22.4% | 10 |
| Manitoba | 100,392 | 36,890 | 36.7% | 8 |
| Saskatchewan | 72,651 | 29,380 | 40.4% | 4 |
| Alberta | 258,257 | 87,160 | 33.7% | 7 |
| British Columbia | 286,953 | 105,890 | 36.9% | 6 |
| Total | 2,401,444 | 750,310 | 31.2% | |
| Canadian Income Survey MBM 2023 base1 | 3,279,000 | 758,540 | 23.1% |
2024
| province | adults in poverty 2023 tax year | cvitp clients 2024 tax season | participation rate | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 72,139 | 31,860 | 44.2% | 3 |
| Prince Edward Island | 10,500 | 7,000 | 66.7% | 1 |
| Nova Scotia | 75,359 | 38,520 | 51.1% | 2 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 39,828 | 15,080 | 37.9% | 8 |
| Quebec | 498,283 | 196,810 | 39.5% | 6 |
| Ontario | 1,001,765 | 257,610 | 25.7% | 10 |
| Manitoba | 103,419 | 42,800 | 41.4% | 5 |
| Saskatchewan | 74,484 | 32,370 | 43.5% | 4 |
| Alberta | 276,684 | 101,380 | 36.6% | 9 |
| British Columbia | 305,792 | 118,050 | 38.6% | 7 |
| Total | 2,458,253 | 841,480 | 34.2% | |
| Canadian Income Survey MBM 2023 base1 | 3,474,000 | 857,540 | 24.7% |
2025
| province | adults in poverty 2024 tax year | cvitp clients 2025 tax season | participation rate | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 71,899 | 35,040 | 48.7% | 3 |
| Prince Edward Island | 11,000 | 7,270 | 66.1% | 1 |
| Nova Scotia | 77,792 | 40,700 | 52.3% | 2 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 41,263 | 16,660 | 40.4% | 7 |
| Quebec | 503,306 | 210,230 | 41.8% | 6 |
| Ontario | 1,001,430 | 279,160 | 27.9% | 10 |
| Manitoba | 106,446 | 49,670 | 46.7% | 4 |
| Saskatchewan | 76,317 | 34,850 | 45.7% | 5 |
| Alberta | 294,110 | 110,700 | 37.6% | 9 |
| British Columbia | 324,078 | 126,180 | 38.9% | 8 |
| Total | 2,507,641 | 910,460 | 36.3% | |
| Canadian Income Survey MBM 2023 base1 | 3,585,000 | 926,710 | 25.8% |
This method has one important limitation. When the provincial poverty estimates are added together, the total is significantly lower than the national poverty count published annually in the CIS. Because the CIS numbers are more accurate, the method used here cannot be employed to compare a province’s coverage rate over time. (The Census‑based calculation, available every five years, is better suited for that purpose.) However, because the downward bias affects all provinces equally, the provincial rankings generated each year remain valid. This allows me to compare how provinces perform relative to one another, even if the absolute coverage rates cannot be compared across years.
Table: Provincial rankings (best performer = 1, worst performer = 10)
| province | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Prince Edward Island | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Nova Scotia | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Quebec | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Ontario | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Manitoba | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| Saskatchewan | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Alberta | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| British Columbia | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
These rankings reveal persistent differences in CVITP coverage between provinces over the 2021–2025 period that are not visible in the CRA’s reporting.
Ontario consistently ranks last among the provinces. Québec, despite being the second‑largest province by population, consistently performs better than half of the country. The Maritime provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island — consistently achieve the strongest rankings. And while Newfoundland and Labrador might be expected to resemble the Maritimes, it does not: it consistently falls in the bottom quarter for CVITP coverage.
These rankings also reveal a significant change in Manitoba’s position, moving from the bottom half to the top half of provincial performers. What accounts for this improvement?
In future articles, I will explore these differences in more detail, examine why they persist, and identify what the better‑performing provinces can teach us, drawing also on what Manitoba has been doing — insights that could help other provinces improve their CVITP coverage.