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CALGARY — A University of Calgary study has found that the percentage of people using social assistance is lower than it was four decades ago in every province, except Ontario.

Ron Kneebone and Katherine White of the School of Public Policy looked at social assistance data for people under the age of 65 from all of the provinces between 1969 and 2012.

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Kneebone said he was surprised to find the rate had fallen in every province but one.

“The reliance on social assistance in Ontario is now higher than in any other province, except Newfoundland and Labrador.

In every Maritime province, it’s lower than it is in Ontario,” said Kneebone.

The percentage of those receiving assistance in Ontario in 2012 was 7.6 per cent, up from the four per cent it was in 1969.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s social assistance rate was nine per cent in 2012, but half what it was in 1969 at 18 per cent. Alberta had the lowest welfare rate in 2012 at just 3.2 per cent, down from five per cent in 1969.