Inflation is the leading worry for Canadians, with many questioning if the country’s best years are behind it, according to internal Department of Finance research. Canadians told Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s pollsters the cost of living was a bigger worry than crime, terrorism or climate change..“The main economic issue of concern was clearly inflation and prices,” said a report. “Participants consistently referred to rising grocery and gasoline prices and in many cases also mentioned housing and utility bills. It was noted wages have not kept up.”.“Participants expressed pessimism and concern about the Canadian economy,” Blacklock's reported. “When asked to provide one word to describe the state of the Canadian economy the words used tended to convey sentiments of uncertainty and pessimism and included ‘poor,’ ‘unstable,’ ‘volatile,’ ‘inflation,’ ‘challenging,’ ‘struggling’ and ‘high prices.’”.“Only a few people used more positive or neutral words such as ‘okay,’” said the report. The findings were based on ten focus groups and questionnaires with 2,007 people nationwide. The finance department paid $174,503 for the report by Environics Research..“Most were pessimistic about the coming year,” said the report. “They expected prices to keep rising. They also expressed worries about the pandemic bills coming due.”.“People were unclear and confused about the causes of recent inflation,” wrote researchers. “Some pointed to pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, the sudden increase in demand for products as restrictions were lifted, rising costs for retailers due to COVID-related retrofitting and higher wages, and too much money being pumped into the economy.”.“Some also suspected price gouging was going on,” said the report. “Few participants had any specific ideas on what the federal government could do to address inflation. Some suggested cutting spending.”.Asked, “Tell me how much of a stress each of the following things are for you,” 73% rated the rising cost of living as a significant worry. It was followed by “quality of health are” (cited by 51%), the pandemic (51%), crime (37%) or terrorism (31%)..A total 45 % said they worried about “the middle class falling further behind” and questioned if Canada’s best years were behind it. “Compared to their parents’ generation at the same age Canadians rate their generation as worse off when it comes to housing (62%), qualify of the environment (60%), financial security (48%) and mental health (48%).”
