Canadians may see the federal budget as more consequential than the recent U.S. midterm elections, but when it comes to what the government is offering, most aren’t giving it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
Instead, they’re giving the budget a collective shrug.
A new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News found that 44 per cent of Canadians believe the federal budget will have a greater impact on the country than the U.S. midterms, compared with 24 per cent who believe the elections will have the bigger impact. Another 33 per cent said they didn’t know enough to say.
But despite its importance, 62 per cent described the budget as neither good nor bad, while just 17 per cent viewed it positively and 21 per cent gave it a negative assessment.
“Well, at this point, it looks like it’s just kind of, as the kids say, a meh, you know?” Darrell Bricker, chairman of Ipsos Canada, told Global News.
“I don’t really see what the effect is going to be. Maybe I’m going to wait and see, but at the moment, it’s basically a shrug.”
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Only 14 per cent of Canadians believe the budget will personally help them financially compared with 21 per cent who expect it to hurt them. Another 65 per cent believe it will neither help nor hurt.
Bricker said Canadians have yet to see how the budget could meaningfully change their lives, describing it as a “non-event for most Canadians.”
While Canadians remain largely indifferent toward the federal budget, the U.S. midterm elections appear to have sparked some optimism about trade relations with their southern neighbour.
A separate Ipsos poll found 49 per cent of respondents are more optimistic about reaching a trade deal that’s good for Canada.
Still, 53 per cent believe Canada should wait until Donald Trump leaves office before making a new deal, while 55 per cent of Canadians say they can never trust Americans the same way again.
“Canadians have been shaken by what’s happened in the United States and are unlikely to come back easily to think that the United States is a reliable partner,” Bricker said.
Bricker said Trump’s unpredictable approach has left Canadians questioning whether a trade deal with the U.S. would hold up.
“He could wake up one day thinking the one thing and be going to bed at night thinking something completely different,” said Bricker.
Only 39 per cent of Canadians believe Prime Minister Mark Carney will succeed in negotiating a new trade deal with Trump, while 64 per cent expect trade and economic disputes between the two countries to continue for several years.
