A recent Nanos poll shows disillusionment and exasperation among Canadians towards the federal government headed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reached alarming levels. This survey has been tracking public sentiment since 2018 and reported that anger and pessimism are now at a six-year high across Canada, as Trudeau’s ruling team continues to underperform in opinion polls.
The survey revealed that a whopping 62% of respondents were divided equally between feeling angry and pessimistic about the Trudeau administration in March. “Pessimism and anger remain the top emotions Canadians say best describe their views of the federal government in Ottawa,” says this survey. This negative emotional upsurge was more pronounced in Quebec, where anger went from 12% in December to 24% in March, and Atlantic Canada rose from 21% to 38%, over the same period.
Meanwhile, there was a slight increase in optimism (from its all-time low of 8% experienced in September of last year) to reach 10%. However, this remained dwarfed by an overwhelming tide of pessimism sweeping across the nation that was accompanied by anger as well. According to previous studies only a paltry 11% of Canadians expressed satisfaction with Stephen Harper’s government while another group equaling this percentage admitted to becoming disinterested.
Nik Nanos, founder of Nanos Research, stressed how serious things have become: “What we’ve seen is, the anger quotient has hit a new record.” He believes that since March 2023 all over Canada there has been an increasing trend of anger towards the federal government with satisfaction waning too.
It is important to note though that this survey was conducted before the unveiling of government’s latest fiscal budget which elicited swift condemnation despite incorporating measures such as housing initiatives; national disability benefit; carbon rebate for small businesses as well as tax increases for wealthiest Canadians; however these are the only details that can be given at this moment. The budget is proposing new spending of $52.9 billion while projecting a federal deficit of $40.1 billion and $39.8 billion for 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years respectively, implying that Canadians’ anger and pessimism might die down, but also it has already received swift criticism.
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Nanos thinks that if the budget does not succeed in assuaging Canadians’ frustrations with Trudeau’s administration then no amount of expenditure will do so. “If the Liberal numbers don’t move up after this, perhaps the listening lesson for the Liberals will be (that) spending is not the political solution for them to break this trend line,” he said. “It’ll have to be something else.”
Elsewhere, a separate Bloomberg survey conducted by Nanos research showed that inflation and cost of living, healthcare climate change and environment; housing affordability; taxes were key considerations influencing Canadian voters’ choice in next federal election.
According to week ending April 12th poll conducted by the company, Conservatives lead at 40%, followed by Liberals with 23.6% and New Democratic Party (NDP) with 20.6%. Nanos stressed that, “Any way you cut it right now, the Conservatives are in driver’s seat” adding they are “in majority territory.”
Nanos argues that the only choice Canadians have to make is whether they believe government spending can help their lives or a smaller state and less taxation, supported by the Conservatives, will work better. “The two parties both fight for the working Canadian but through two distinct lenses. The Liberals want to put government aid in their hands and establish social programs to support Canadians,” he said. “For the Conservatives it’s a different story. It’s about shrinking government and lowering tax.”
Last Updated on by Alshaar Ansari