Most Canadians think Trudeau government is overspending, poll finds

The nation is days away from unveiling its federal budget for 2024, and a majority of Canadians are already upset.

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Deputy and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland wrap up their cross-country tour promoting facets of the budget ahead of the event, a new Angus Reid Institute poll finds the attitudes of Canadians have soured — including previous Liberal voters.

“If you look at the drift of 2021 Liberal voters who have migrated now to the Conservatives, money issues are front and centre,” Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, told the Star.

Concerns are also building around the ballooning federal deficit, which has climbed to $1.17 trillion by the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year — nearly double the $616 billion deficit in 2015-16, when Trudeau first took office.

The findings are another sign of Canadians’ growing discontentment with the federal government, as the Liberals continue to trail behind the Conservatives in the polls.

When Trudeau took power in 2015, his party ran on a campaign focused around increased spending at a time when the NDP and Tories had committed to balancing the budget, Kurl said.

But public sentiment has shifted over the years, especially after Ottawa’s attempts to shore up the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. What once aided the Liberals is now helping drive Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives to the top of the polls.

“There’s a lot of miles left to go before we are likely to see an election, so really the question is, can the Conservatives sustain this level of popularity?” Kurl said. “It’s all predicated on if the Liberals are able to to change the narrative.”

According to the poll, 87 per cent of current Conservative voters believe Ottawa is spending “too much” overall. In contrast, 30 per cent of

Liberal voters think the same, compared to 37 per cent of NDP and 76 per cent of Bloc Québécois voters.

In total, 59 per cent of all Canadians felt the government is overspending. By comparison, 18 per cent said it’s spending “about the right amount” while eight per cent believed it is spending “too little.”

Similarly, 64 per cent of Canadians expressed concerns over the national debt. This included 89 per cent of Conservatives, 46 per cent of Liberals, 47 per cent of the NDP and 67 per cent of Bloc Québécois voters.

Overall, 29 per cent of Canadians said they were “not that concerned” or “not at all concerned” about the federal deficit.

Notably, the survey was issued days before Trudeau and Freeland began rolling out budget updates in late March. While Kurl can’t speak to how sentiments might have changed in the time since, “it certainly establishes a baseline that even before those announcements, there was a level of concern.”

When asked which parts of the budget voters would like to see reduced, foreign aid was top of mind.

Overall, 59 per cent of Canadians felt Ottawa was spending “too much” on foreign aid, which has surged over the past year due in part to the war in Ukraine. Next were Indigenous programs and reconciliation, of which 39 per cent felt took too much funding, compared to 23 per cent who felt it was too little.

Environmental programs and government services (including passports, taxes and more) were both seen as being overfunded by 32 per cent of respondents. Meanwhile, 29 per cent and 13 per cent felt they were being underfunded, respectively.

On the opposite end, 67 per cent of Canadians believe Ottawa needs to put more money into health care, as provinces including Ontario contend with a doctor shortage.

National defence was also a hot topic, with 48 per cent in favour of spending more and 18 per cent against.