Addressing health inequalities in Canada

The idea that low income and poverty are determinants of poor health is uncontested. It is not surprising then that societies with greater numbers of poor people also have poorer population health. Additionally, there is increasing evidence that societies with greater numbers of poor people begin to show a spillover effect by which the health of the "not poor" also begins to deteriorate. Economic inequality is most likely to increase within societies that provide increasing financial gains to the well‐off at the expense of the poor. Also, these societies are more likely to be those reducing investment in social infrastructure.