Canadians are feeling somewhat better about their financial situation heading into a new year and decade, according to exclusive polling conducted by Ipsos for Global News.
“Two in three Canadians say their financial situation is good,” said Sean Simpson, vice president of Ipsos.
According to the poll data, 65 per cent of Canadians said they felt very good or somewhat good, a figure up four percentage points from one year ago.
The greatest barrier to the feeling of financial security is housing costs and debt, respondents said.
According to the new poll, 16 per cent of those polled said paying their mortgage or rent is the most significant obstacle to financial security. Servicing debt was identified by 14 per cent of respondents.
In the debt category, credit card debt (13 per cent) was the greatest challenge, followed by student debt (one per cent).
But those living in Atlantic Canada identified credit card debt (21 per cent) as a much more significant obstacle.
More men (53 per cent) said they faced no barriers to financial security compared to women (47 per cent) who responded to the poll question.
Educated Canadians and men over 54 said they did not face barriers.
Higher-income Canadians with an average household income of $83,000 per year felt the most comfortable compared to households with an annual income of $60,000.
Albertans are more likely than other Canadians to describe their financial situation as very or somewhat “bad.”
According to the poll, 49 per cent of Albertans described their financial situation negatively, 14 points higher than the national average.
Forty per cent of those living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba felt financially squeezed compared to 37 per cent in Ontario, 30 per cent in British Columbia and 29 per cent in Quebec.
The most financially contented Canadians are in Atlantic Canada at 23 per cent.
“Roughly eight in 10 Canadians say they’re in a good place,” Simpson said in an interview.
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A majority of Canadians (57 per cent) told Ipsos they faced some financial challenges in 2019.
The poll revealed 38 per cent of Canadians reduced non-essential spending, like travel or entertainment. Another 28 per cent said they had reduced spending on essential items, including food or clothing.
Albertans (38 per cent) claimed to have cut essential spending in 2019.
Nationally, 43 per cent of respondents said they did not cut spending in any way.
While many Canadians are feeling better about their financial security, it may be at the expense of their romantic life.
“It’s interesting to note an inverse relationship between one’s financial situation and one’s sex life,” said Simpson.
The Ipsos poll found that 59 per cent of Canadians rate their sex or romantic life as good. That’s a three percentage point decline over the last year.
Those who live in Ontario are the least satisfied (51 per cent) compared to Canadians living in Atlantic Canada (65 per cent) and B.C. (66 per cent).
Canadians most satisfied with their romantic life are in Quebec (67 per cent).
Simpson suggests there may be a correlation between financial satisfaction and declining romantic happiness.
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“Maybe people are reining in their spending, maybe they’re not going out for that romantic dinner, buying the box of chocolates or bouquet of flowers and their sex life is suffering as a result.”
This Ipsos poll, conducted on behalf of Global News, was an online survey of 1,002 Canadians conducted between Dec. 3 and 5, 2019. The results were weighted to better reflect the composition of the adult Canadian population, according to census data. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
WINNIPEG – Police in Winnipeg say one person has died and three more were injured after a pickup truck smashed into a bus shelter on Portage Avenue during the morning commute.
Police say those injured are in stable condition in hospital.
It began after a Ford F150 truck hit a pedestrian and bus shelter on Portage Avenue near Bedson Street before 8 a.m.
Another vehicle, a power pole and a gas station were also damaged before the truck came to a stop.
The crash forced commuters to be rerouted and knocked out power in the area for more than a thousand Manitoba Hydro customers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A 35-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after his mother’s body was found near her Kamloops, B.C., home a year ago.
Mounties say 57-year-old Jo-Anne Donovan was found dead about a week after she had been reported missing.
RCMP says its serious crime unit launched an investigation after the body was found.
Police say they arrested Brandon Donovan on Friday after the BC Prosecution Service approved the charge.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
