In a recent article on the CVITP participation rates of those living in poverty, we noted that “New Brunswick has the best participation rate, with 43.4% of the province’s poor receiving CVITP services.  At 17.4%, Ontario has the worst participation rate among the provinces, well below the rate for all the provinces combined (24.3%).”

The purpose of this article is to explore some of the reasons for these wide divergences.  To help find some of the reasons, we compare the two best performers, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (PEI), with the two weakest performers, Ontario and British Columbia (BC).

First, we dismiss a couple of reasons we think are not relevant.  Next, we analyze the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) CVITP data for 2021 at the provincial level. Here we discover three important differences between these high and low performing provinces.  Then we look at the provincial level data in 2022 and 2023. We want to see if there have been changes since 2021 in these three areas which might significantly improve the CVITP participation rates of the poor performers relative to the strong performers.

Finally, we link these differences with the expected results of the CRA’s pilot grant program.  We argue that the developments in these areas prove the pilot did not achieve two and arguably three of its four expected results. (No CRA data has been made public which allows for an assessment of the fourth area.)

Read here about the three differences between the high and low performing provinces in 2021, how these differences evolved between 2021 and 2023, and why we believe they demonstrate that the CRA’s pilot grant program has been a disappointment.