Two thirds now see Canada in
recession
Infrastructure investment
preferred to austerity
TORONTO September 2nd, 2015 - In a random
sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1384 Canadian voters,
fully two thirds say Canada is now in a recession (67%), and this is a
significant increase from the 6-in-10 who said this in July (July 21 - 58%).
This attitude is especially common to the youngest (72%), in Ontario (72%) and
the prairies (71%), among Liberals and New Democrats (75% and 76%,
respectively) but only to one half of Conservative voters (48%).
Few want austerity, cutting
deficits
Close to one half of voters agree the best course of action
for a government in a poor economy is to invest in infrastructure to create
jobs and stimulate growth (45%), and very few take the opposite view, that it
is preferable to impose restraint and pay down deficits (18%). Relatively equal
proportions say to do something else or don’t know (16% and 13%, respectively).
Conservatives have a narrow margin in favour of austerity (37% to 26%), while
Liberals and New Democrats firmly choose investment (63% and 52%, respectively).
Plurality approve of Liberal
deficit spending plan
Close to one half of voters approve of Liberal leader Justin
Trudeau’s plan to run deficits for 3 years after the election before balancing
the budget in 2019 (44%), while more than a third (38%) do not approve of this
plan. Close to one fifth don’t know what to think (17%). Three quarters of
Liberals approve of the plan (78%) not surprisingly, but close to one half of
New Democrats do as well (45%). Just one sixth of Conservative voters agree
with this idea (15%).
Two thirds agree deficits are
not always a “bad thing”
Two thirds of Canadian voters say it is not always a bad
thing to run a deficit (63%), while just fewer than a quarter think it is
(22%). One sixth don’t have an opinion (15%). As many as one half of
Conservative voters don’t think deficits are always bad (52%), while close to
three quarters of Liberals (71%) and New Democrats (72%) are of the same
opinion.
“It appears Canadians have suffered through enough restraint
in bad times to realize that a little spending goes a long way towards
improving the economic climate, and getting voters, in turn, to spend more.
It’s a simple cycle, really; governments spend, people work, people spend, taxes
are paid. It usually works," said Forum
Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is
the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com
or at (416) 960-9603.
