As Parliament prepares to spring back into action on Monday, Canadians have one thing at the top of their mind: the rising cost of living.
That’s the latest from a new Ipsos poll, which found concerns about rising price tags on essentials like groceries and gas are now outranking issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, health care and housing as Canadians’ top concern.
“They’re really focused on what’s going on in their own homes and what’s happening in their own lives, particularly relative to their own personal prosperity,” said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos, in an interview with Global News.
5:50 Getting your finances in order as cost of living soars
Getting your finances in order as cost of living soars – Oct 21, 2021 Canadians, Bricker said, are “very concerned about what the future is going to look like.”
Using the top 10 issues Canadians said were important in an election day poll by Global News and Ipsos, the survey created a short list of “potential priority areas for the upcoming session of parliament,” according to the poll’s factum.
Affordability and cost of living topped the list as the key issue Canadians thought the government should prioritize, with 33 per cent putting the issue at the top of their lists. Nipping at the heels of that top spot were concerns about the pandemic, which 27 per cent said should be a priority, as well as health care, which sat at 25 per cent, followed by housing at 24 per cent and the economy at 23 per cent.
7:04 Price hikes making Canadians wary
Price hikes making Canadians wary – Oct 7, 2021
The finding comes as inflation hit its highest rate since 2003 last month — a whopping 4.7 per cent. The climbing costs have forced consumers of every age, income and political creed to spend more to fill up their tanks and grocery carts.
On top of that, a long-simmering affordability crisis spanning housing, child-care and higher-education costs seems to have reached a boiling point. For example, Canada’s average national home price has risen a mind-boggling 32 per cent between July 2019 and July 2021, according to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association.
While these issues are top of mind for Canadians, the poll found a disconnect between what Canadians wished to see prioritized and what they think the government can actually accomplish.
Just 23 per cent of respondents are confident that the government will make progress on cost of living and affordability issues, according to the poll.
Canadians are much more confident that progress will be made when it comes to the fight against COVID-19 — 61 per cent are expecting to see positive steps on that file, the poll found.
“With the pandemic … they know how to track progress. They know that things are getting better,” said Bricker.
“But when it comes to the cost of living and the state of the economy, they don’t feel the same degree of certainty about the government being able to make progress.”
As for the governing Liberals, they won’t be enjoying any post-election popularity boost as they head into the new Parliamentary session.
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Cost of living climbs in Calgary prompting renewed calls for a ‘living wage’ – Nov 1, 2021
The approval rating for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government sits at 48 per cent, which is just two per cent higher than the 46 per cent approval rate it had heading into election day.
“There’s no honeymoon after this election,” Bricker said.
On top of that, over 40 per cent of Canadians think Trudeau should step aside as Liberal Party leader before the next election, while 29 per cent said they hope he’ll lead the Liberals on their next trip to the polls.
“Among Canadians who actually have an opinion about Justin Trudeau’s future, the plurality of them think that he should go before the next election,” Bricker said.
If Trudeau wants to show Canadians he’d like to stay on as Liberal leader, Bricker said the prime minister can start by “focusing on the issue that Canadians are really concerned about most directly today … which is the issue of cost of living.”
“The way the prime minister communicates a desire to stay is by his level of engagement on the issues that people really care about,” Bricker said.
Exclusive Global News Ipsos polls are protected by copyright. The information and/or data may only be rebroadcast or republished with full and proper credit and attribution to “Global News Ipsos.” This poll was conducted between Nov. 12 and 15, 2021, with a sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18-plus interviewed online. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. This poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18-plus been polled.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
