Canadians feeling better than they were in the past three years as economic gloom is subsiding, poll suggests
Canadians are “less pessimistic” about the economy than they have been in recent years, according Pollara Strategic Insights’ annual economic outlook poll.
While the survey was conducted before Justin Trudeau announced his resignation Monday, it suggests people may be starting to see a silver lining in the clouds that have hovered over the prime minister since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The gloominess of the past few years is subsiding,” Dan Arnold, chief strategy officer at Pollara, said Monday.
“People are feeling better than they were in the 2022, 2023 or 2024 annual economic outlooks,” said Arnold.
But that does not mean that it’s all sunshine and rainbows — 70 per cent believe Canada is in a recession, down from 82 per cent in last year’s survey.
That’s despite the fact that the country is not technically in recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of the economy shrinking instead of growing.
“They’re not optimistic, they’re less pessimistic,” the pollster emphasized.
Indeed, 40 per cent of Canadians expect to fall behind financially in 2025, down from 46 per cent in last year’s annual poll.
Similarly, 48 per cent of Canadians are worried about their own personal finances, down from 53 per cent in January 2024.
At the same time, 34 per cent of Canadians are optimistic about the economy — up from 27 per cent last year — while 31 per cent are confident, a five percentage point increase from 2024.
Pollara surveyed 1,506 people across Canada from Dec. 4 until Dec. 13. While online panel samples cannot be assigned a margin of error, for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have one of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The firm has conducted an annual review of expectations and perceptions of the economy for 30 years. It found 56 per cent feel things are worse now than they have been in decades with only nine per cent believing they are better.
“If you are looking for a cause of death of Trudeau’s prime ministership, it is very much the economy,” said Arnold, noting the prime minister could never recover from the Bank of Canada’s monthly raising of interest rates in 2023.
As in past polls, respondents were asked to select up to four words “that best describe the feelings that you have about your personal financial situation.”
Almost half — 48 per cent — said “worried” while 34 per cent said “optimistic”; 31 per cent “confident”; 31 per cent “calm”; 25 per cent “upset”; 24 per cent “sad”; 22 per cent “pessimistic”; 19 per cent “resigned”; 16 “ashamed”; 15 per cent “happy”; seven per cent “bored”; seven per cent “inspired”; four per cent “excited”; and five per cent had “no feeling about this.”
This article was first reported by The Star
