As the cost of living becomes more expensive, half of Canadians indicate that they are only $200 away from being unable to pay their bills.
According to an Ipsos survey conducted for the professional service firm MNP, 49% of Canadians surveyed are within $200 of insolvency. Further, 31% of respondents said they are unable to cover their bills because they don’t earn enough income.
Two thousand Canadian adults were surveyed by Ipsos from March 9-15 – a week prior to the Bank of Canada’s (BOC) decision to raise its central rate for the first time since 2018.
The BOC raised interest rates by half a percentage point last week and promised several more hikes in an attempt to fight historically-high inflation.
According to the survey, 52% of Canadians said they were already feeling the effects of high rates prior to the BOC’s decision.
A majority of Canadians have been looking for ways to reduce spending as their worries about the Canadian economy continue.
According to a recent Leger survey in March, 81% of Canadians believe inflation is a very or somewhat serious problem for their household. It also showed that 86% of respondents say they believe inflation will increase, while 84% expect gas prices to rise.
In February of this year, Canada’s inflation level hit 5.7% – the highest it’s been in 30 years. Economists predict that the inflation level will steadily increase, due to sanctions on Russia and other world events.
Gas prices rose more than 32.3% compared to the previous year’s figures. Food prices across Canada are up more than 7.4%.
Rather than reduce spending or attempt to address the cost of living crisis, the Trudeau government is continuing its massive spending spree, revealing $56 billion in new spending and programs in its latest budget.
The new spending includes $8 billion on defence, $10 billion towards an affordable housing plan and further taxes on financial institutions. The Liberals have also raised a surtax on those earning over $1 billion by 1.5%, bringing it to 16.5%.
“Freeland is giving taxpayers another credit card budget with no plan to pay the bills on time and chip away at the $1 trillion debt,” said Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“Freeland is taking the wait-and-see approach to the government’s credit card bills and hoping the economy can grow faster than its borrowing, but that’s not a good bet with its track record of runaway spending.”
