The $1.7 million retirement target is simultaneously the most cited and least useful number in Canadian personal finance. It is the average of a diverse national survey that includes people who want to live in downtown Vancouver with $120,000/year lifestyles and people who own their home in Charlottetown and spend $42,000/year. The average serves neither group. The only useful retirement number is a personal one - derived from your specific spending, your specific guaranteed income, and your specific timeline.
The table reveals two things immediately: First, most Canadians in lower-cost regions with paid-off homes need considerably less than $1.7 million - often $600,000–$850,000. Second, the people for whom $1.7 million or more is genuinely necessary are those who plan to rent in expensive cities or maintain very high lifestyle spending in retirement. The national average conflates these two groups and creates anxiety in the first while potentially underestimating needs in the second.