Even though Canadians voted to re-elect Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals in last spring’s election, it seems that many are unhappy with some of the government’s broader economic priorities.
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) had Ipsos conduct a poll of just over 1,000 Canadians to see what their views were on issues ranging from taxation to corporate welfare to Carney’s signature sovereign wealth fund. And, on issue after issue, Canadians think the feds are heading in the wrong direction.
A total of 63 per cent of respondents said they felt they paid too much in income tax, while 70 per cent of those who were surveyed said their tax burden reduces their standard of living.
While the Carney government did lower taxes marginally, by reducing the bottom income tax bracket from 15 per cent to 14 per cent, clearly Canadians aren’t feeling the effects. More needs to be done, including a much more aggressive tax cut, to ensure that Canadians don’t overwhelmingly feel that paying taxes comes at the cost of their living standards.
On the spending side of the equation, Canadians aren’t onside with the Carney government either. Fifty-two per cent of Canadians think the federal government spends too much. For comparison’s sake, just five per cent said they thought the government didn’t spend enough.
Clearly, there’s an appetite to rein in government spending and redirect some of that saved money toward lowering the overall tax burden.
The MEI survey also shows that Canadians are sick and tired of corporate welfare, which the federal government, as well as the governments of Ontario and Quebec, seem to have become addicted to in recent years. Two-thirds of respondents felt that corporate handouts are too expensive and don’t yield adequate results.
And when it comes to borrowing $25 billion to create a federal sovereign wealth fund, Canadians also take issue with the Carney Liberals’ approach. Fifty-eight per cent of Canadians don’t think it makes sense to borrow money to try to create a wealth fund – after all, sovereign wealth funds are traditionally funded through surpluses and revenue generated through natural resource projects. Carney’s plan is to simply borrow $25 billion to create such a fund, which will require Canadian taxpayers to pay interest on the borrowed money.
It’s interesting that while Canadians seem to continue to back Carney and the Liberals, with poll after poll showing they would likely win a majority government if an election were to be held today, most don’t agree with their signature economic plans. Canadians want taxes and spending to be reduced. Carney’s Liberals have plans to do just the opposite.
If anything, it’s an indictment on the opposition’s inability to break through with Canadians. After all, based on this survey, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are on the right side of virtually every issue. And yet Canadians, writ large, seem to trust the Liberals.
Of course, much of this has to do with the Trump issue, and the idea that Carney seems to have convinced Canadians that he’s the man to deal with the U.S. president and his administration’s belligerent trade policies. Canadians, despite agreeing with the Tories on many issues, seem to just be more comfortable having Carney in charge while President Donald Trump is in the White House.
The survey does show that the Conservatives are on the right side of most economic issues. Yet the fact that the Liberals remain favoured in the polls suggests that, until the Conservatives can find a way to break through on the Trump issue, Canadians might continue trusting the Liberals to manage the Canadian economy despite disagreeing with their approach to most key issues.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
