Most Canadians want Trudeau government to spend less, poll finds
Outlays seen as driver of inflation
A majority of Canadians want to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reduce government spending, which many see as one of the primary drivers of inflation in recent years, a new survey finds.
Overall, about 63 per cent of Canadians would prefer to see lower spending in Trudeau’s budget, according to the poll by Nanos Research Group conducted for Bloomberg. Some 38 per cent of respondents want the money that would be saved to go toward repaying government debt, while 25 per cent want tax cuts.
That may make April’s federal budget an unpopular one, as Trudeau’s Liberals appear likely to increase spending on items such as housing, defence and industrial subsidies.
“Canadians by a large margin prefer spending reductions over increased spending,” said Nik Nanos, the polling firm’s chief data scientist. “As Canadians exercise their own economic restraint as they struggle to pay for housing and groceries, they likely expect the federal government to also exercise fiscal restraint.”
Just under nine per cent in the survey want to see increased spending, and most of that group say it could be paid for through higher taxes. Bloomberg reported last week that business groups are worried about this scenario, with one possibility being a tax raise on windfall profits to offset new government spending.
Nearly two per cent of all respondents say they prefer to see increased spending funded by more borrowing, while a quarter say the government should simply continue as planned on its fiscal path.
The government’s budget update in November projected a $38.4-billion deficit in the fiscal year 2024-25, and $38.3 billion the year after. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has pledged to meet the guideposts laid out in the fall update, and to bring the deficit down to below one per cent of gross domestic product by the fiscal year ending in 2027.
The Liberals are far behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives in opinion polls due in large part to affordability issues, and the government is eager to see the Bank of Canada cut interest rates. Politically, Trudeau and Freeland can’t afford to produce a budget that is seen as inflationary.
A separate question in the Nanos poll found about a third of Canadians blame the government’s spending and deficits for the recent rise in prices and cost of living. That number is about the same as it was last summer, and is up slightly from the summer of 2022.
However, it found that 26 per cent of Canadians place the blame for inflation on businesses — double the percentage who said that in 2022.
“Events like the Ukraine-russia war and the pandemic are taking a back seat to a focus on business pricing practices and government spending,” Nanos said.
The Nanos poll surveyed 1,071 Canadians between Feb. 28 and March 2, and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.