Cabinet is on the wrong track and appears overwhelmed by events, Canadians told pollsters in Privy Council in-house research..According to Blacklock's Reporter, participants in federal focus groups also gave cabinet a failing grade when it comes to tackling inflation..“Very few participants believed the Government of Canada was currently on the right track when it came to addressing the priority areas they had identified,” wrote researchers..“For most it was felt while the Government of Canada had begun to take actions to address important concerns such as housing affordability and cost of living, these had produced little in the way of tangible impact thus far.”.Researchers said more generally, several Canadians believed actions taken by the federal government were "often reactive in nature and more needed to be done by federal officials to anticipate the challenges Canadians would face before they became major issues.".The findings were based on focus group interviews nationwide. The research was conducted under a $2.4 million Privy Council contract with The Strategic Counsel..Canadians overwhelmingly rated inflation a major worry..“All participants felt addressing the rising cost of living to be an important priority for the Government of Canada to focus on,” said the report..“Asked whether they felt the federal government was currently on the right track when it came to this issue however, few believed this to be the case,” wrote researchers..“For the larger number who thought the federal government was currently on the wrong track, it was widely felt the income of most Canadians was not currently keeping pace with rising prices and unless something was done to either raise wages or bring down essential costs this problem would likely continue to persist.”.“To address this it was suggested actions could be taken by the federal government to encourage businesses to offer higher wages,” the report continued..“Some believed this could be done through the provision of wage supplements to small businesses to assist them with the additional cost.”.Participants were indifferent to inflation relief programs like $650 annual grants for children’s dental care for families with yearly income under $70,000. Cabinet also introduced an average $234 increase in GST credits for lower income families and $500 bonus to 1.8 million renters who qualify for the Canada Housing Benefit..“Several participants believed federal actions towards addressing the cost of living should have been implemented earlier and the Government of Canada had been too reactive in their approach, only acting once the issue had started making media headlines,” said Canadians’ Views.
