With federal budgets increasing from year –to year, and inflation taking a toll on government spending, Canadians have had to rethink where they want their government to spend to deal with the issues facing them every day. From December 1 to 3, 2023, we surveyed Canadians about their opinions and concerns regarding federal spending.
Download the report to learn more.
Some of the key highlights of our survey about the Canadian government’s spending include…
- The majority of Canadians think the federal government should allocate more funds towards:
o Healthcare and health transfers to provinces (71%)
o The housing strategy (66%)
o Initiatives aimed at addressing inflation and cost of living issues (66%) - However, for matters such as national defense, services for Indigenous communities, international aid in conflict zones, and cultural and heritage initiatives, the majority of Canadians think that the government should maintain or reduce the level of spending.
- The majority of Canadians (83%) think that increases in federal spending should be capped so that it doesn’t fuel inflation. A similar proportion (79%) think that federal spending should be reduced to balance budgets in a few years.
- Almost three quarters of Canadians (72%) think that returning to a balanced budget too quickly would mean hurting certain categories of the population.
Methodology
This web survey was conducted from December 1 to 3, 2023, with 1,545 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison, a probability sample of 1,545 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.49%, 19 times out of 20.