The last seven months probably felt like a roller coaster for Canadians. Elections in B.C. and Saskatchewan returned incumbent governments with smaller mandates, Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election and Justin Trudeau announced his intention to depart as Canada’s prime minister.
Oddly enough, our views on the country’s financial standing are exactly where they were in August 2024. Only 32 per cent of Canadians rate the economic conditions in Canada today as “very good” or “good,” while almost two-thirds (64 per cent) consider them “bad” or “very bad.”
Canadians who voted for the Conservative Party in 2021 maintain a gloomier view of the national economy, with only 23 per cent believing it is “very good” or “good.” The proportions are higher among those who cast ballots for the New Democratic Party (30 per cent) or the Liberal Party (42 per cent).
While Canada appears to be stagnant, households report an improvement. Just over half of Canadians (52 per cent, up six points) say their own personal finances today are “very good” or “good,” while almost half (46 per cent, down five points) deem them to be “bad” or “very bad.”
Middle-aged Canadians—a crucial component of the Liberal Party’s victories of 2015, 2019 and 2021—are particularly anxious. In this group, negative views about the current state of the Canadian economy reach 67 per cent, while an unfavourable assessment of their personal financial standing is at 51 per cent.
A unique feature of public opinion in the Trump years is the way in which a snapshot can move based on the immediacy of the facts—real or “alternative”—coming out of the White House. As we await to see how the issue of tariffs develops, almost half of Canadians (48 per cent, up 14 points) expect the Canadian economy to decline in the next six months, while 31 per cent (down 12 points) foresee no change and only 15 per cent (unchanged) predict an improvement.
The responses on the issues that keep us up at night echo some of the results we saw during the global financial crisis of 2008. More than two in five Canadians have worried “frequently” or “occasionally” about the safety of their savings (43 per cent, down eight points), unemployment affecting their household (45 per cent, up three points), the value of their investments (47 per cent, down five points), being able to pay their mortgage or rent (47 per cent, up five points) or their employer running into serious financial trouble (48 per cent, up 15 points).
Our collective inflation concerns have not subsided. More than three in five Canadians foresee more expensive groceries (78 per cent, up two points), gasoline (78 per cent, up one point), new cars (71 per cent, up three points) and new television sets (61 per cent, up eight points). Real estate is at the bottom of the list (57 per cent, down eight points), with some British Columbians and Ontarians feeling that the market will become more affordable.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre saw his standing as a person who can be trusted to do the right thing to help the economy increase from 41 per cent to 45 per cent. The departing Trudeau also improved, from 36 per cent to 39 per cent, as did Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem (from 35 per cent to 39 per cent).
Canadians aged 35 to 54, who are more worried about the national economy and their own finances, are more likely to look at Poilievre as having the right frame of mind to act properly to help the economy (49 per cent) than Trudeau (37 per cent). The perceptions of Canadians could change once Trudeau’s successor begins to implement policy. Still, at this point, Poilievre would begin an election campaign from a superior position.
One eye-catching statistic comes in the sizable increase in the proportion of Canadians who have worried “frequently” or “occasionally” about their employer running into serious financial trouble. About one in seven Canadians who in August were not concerned about the long-term viability of their workplace feel very differently in the second month of 2025.
Mario Canseco is president of Research Co.
Results are based on an online survey conducted from February 3-5, 2025, among 1,001 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, in each country.
