Photo credit: Chris Robert/Unsplash
Inflation and cost-of-living considerations continue to be top of mind for Canadians according to new Ipsos Reid numbers.
However, concern about the impact of international relations and geopolitics is growing in Canada while Ipsos’s Global Consumer Confidence Index is down 0.6 of a point since last month.
A survey of 1,000 Canadians conducted mid-March reveal that 23% of Canadians cite cost of living as their primary concern, holding steady month over month. The level of concern is largely equal across gender and age demographics, but those at or below a high-school level of education are disproportionally affected.
Global-trade lands in second place with 15% of Canadians citing it as their primary concern after surging 11 points above last month’s numbers.
Canadians older than 55 are significantly more likely than younger age groups to be concerned about relations with other countries with 22% of the cohort reporting concern compared with just 10% of their Gen Z and young-millennial counterparts. Also, those with a post-secondary education are considerably more concerned about geopolitics and trade squabbles, scoring 8% higher than those with a high-school diploma or less.
Conservative voters are more likely to be concerned about taxes (14%) than other voting groups, while Liberal voters are far more likely to be concerned about relations with other countries (27%).
Health care as a concern, meanwhile, is down 4% overall compared with February and now sits at 14%.
Rounding out the rest of the top concerns cited by respondents are housing affordability and taxes (9%), the economy and jobs (7%), immigration (4%) and poverty, inequality and climate change (3%).
Ipsos’s Global Consumer Confidence Index, which surveyed 21,200 adults finds Canada in 20th spot among 29 countries. With a score of 45.5, Canada is one of the economies where confidence has lost the most ground compared with 2024 levels.
India, by contrast, is the most confident nation with a score of 60.2.
