The living wage calculations are based on the Canadian Living Wage Framework developed by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. It is actually a pretty conservative budget and if you google the framework you can read it yourself. Here is the summary:
Living wage calculations are based on a family of 4 with two full-time income earners (working 70 hours per week), including day care for one child and after school care for one child. It assumes all members of the family are healthy and do not have any medical, behavioural or mental health conditions.
Household expenses (food etc.) are sourced from Statistics Canada's database that is used to create the Market Basket Measure. So, no, it does not include organic food and non-organic, generic brands would be included.
It assumes rental housing. Using the matrix presented above it would use rental rates for a home that is suitable for a family of four. The cost of housing comes from the CMHC.
Maintaining a "safe, decent, dignified" standard of living is defined as being able to consistently meet the family's basic needs (food security, ability to make monthly housing and utility payments, ability to pay for transportation etc. Transportation and education costs are sourced locally in each city as they can vary greatly. Those who live in the city are budgeted for a bus pass while the framework assumes that a car is necessary for those living in rural areas. If you commute from a rural area into the city for work then it accounts for the cost of driving a second-hand car from your rural home to the city limits and the cost of a bus pass within the city limits (no parking allotted). It also includes minimal recreation (aka the ability to take your kids to the pool or enrol them in community soccer - no allowances are made for anything beyond basic recreation like hockey, summer camp etc).
No, backpacking in Europe is not considered a future need or goal. In fact, beyond the ability for each parent to actually take the 2 weeks of vacation they earn at work (instead of working through it and getting it paid out) there are no allowances in the living wage calculation to account for family holidays.
The living wage calculation does not include any of the following items: • Credit card, loan or other debt/interest payments; • Savings for retirement; • Owning a home; • Savings for children’s future education; • Anything beyond minimal recreation, entertainment and holidays, • Costs of caring for a disabled, seriously ill, or elderly family member; or • Anything other than the smallest cushion for emergencies or hard times - that cushion is specifically defined as a total of 2 weeks of family earnings at a living wage (less than $2500 total).
I hope that helps! Multiple documents on the framework (including the actual framework) are available online if you want to see it