Most Canadians are unhappy with the way the country's government spends money

According to an Ipsos poll of more than 1,000 people, less than a quarter of Canadians (23%) believe the federal government is spending money correctly on the country's most serious problems. The same poll, commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute, shows that 64% of Canadian citizens believe that the leadership is ineffectively spending money on important issues in the country. 13% of respondents said they did not know how to answer the question or chose not to answer.

More than half of respondents (55%) think the government spends too much money, while 27% of Canadians think it is adequate. Only 9% believe that government spending is not big enough, and another 9% chose not to answer or did not know how to answer.

Two thirds of respondents (67%) think that they pay too high income tax. Only 1% think that this tax is not high enough. According to Ipsos, 65% of men and 70% of women think income tax is too high. Moreover, young people (aged 18-34 years) more often consider taxes high (72%) than adults (55 years and older), among whom 63% hold such an opinion.

Poll also found that most Canadians are not satisfied with the accountability and transparency of how the government spends public money. 31% said they are satisfied with everything.

Ipsos found out what Canadians think about carbon pricing, which people are often unhappy with, as it is set to rise in the coming years. The survey showed that 25% are strongly opposed to price increases, 20% disagree with pricing in part, and 41% of respondents said they support carbon pricing. 15% have no opinion on the question or chose not to answer. The poll also found that 68% of Atlantic Canadians oppose raising prices, while 47% of Quebecers support the idea.

More than 60% of respondents believe that it was the increase in government spending in the last 3 years that led to the growth of inflation in the country. 26% of respondents disagree with them.

Ipsos talked to Canadians about who can be considered rich. A third of respondents said that those who earn more than CAD 250,000 annually can be considered rich. More than a quarter of respondents — 27% — say people with incomes over CAD 500 thousand are rich. For 17% of Canadians, those whose annual income exceeds CAD 100 thousand are rich, while 16% said people with annual incomes of more than CAD 1 million are rich. Just 7% consider those whose annual income exceeds CAD 5 million to be rich.

Ipsos also found that 71% of Canadians believe that consumer prices will rise if corporate taxes are raised. The same opinion is held by 80% of respondents from Quebec. 24% of Ontario residents disagree. 61% of Canadians believe that higher taxes will persuade wealthy people to consider moving out of Canada.

However, almost half of respondents (43%) believe that the rich should pay more than half of their income in taxes. Only one-third of respondents agree that the rich pay their fair share in taxes. Western Canadians are more likely to disagree that the rich should pay 50% of their income in taxes, and 35% of Western Canadians believe that the income of the rich should not be subject to additional taxes. 69% of Canadian adults (age 55 and older) surveyed believe the rich pay too little in taxes. Just under half (49%) of respondents aged 18-34 agree.