How the G.O.P. and Democrats Are Talking About the Surge in Gas Prices
· NY Times
৩ বিভাগে বৃষ্টির আভাস
· Kaler Kantho
In Carney's Canada, data suggests we're using our tax returns just to live
· Toronto Sun
Don’t get too many plans for your tax refund, if you’re getting one. According to new data, Canadians are using it just to keep food on the table.
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The cash crunch is forcing Canadians to rely on their tax returns to cover their day-to-day expenses. According to data , 40% of Canadians depend on their tax refund to help address cost-of-living expenses, and 28% are going to use it to pay for everyday essentials.
Gen Z and Millennials take the worst hit, with 53% and 48% respectively saying they’ll cash in their refund for such expenses compared to 40% of Gen Xers and 17% of Boomers.
Recent Abacus data shows that 67% of Canadians say the cost of living where they live is the worst they can ever remember it being. Only 11% say the cost of living isn’t severe.
And if you think this isn’t unique to Canada, you might be wrong. Recently, 46% of Americans said the cost of living was at its worst in memory. It would suggest that Canadians are feeling the financial heat even more than Americans.
Conservative voters more cost-of-living conscious
The recent financial struggles play out among partisan lines. While it’s true that 58% of Liberal voters in the poll say the cost of living is the worst in memory, many more Conservative voters (75%) take that stance.
“This is not a marginal concern or a background anxiety,” the December Abacus report says. “It is a dominant lived experience that continues to shape how Canadians interpret government performance, leadership, and competing policy priorities, alongside concern about Donald Trump, trade, and global instability.”
Cost-of-living the top issue
The survey found Canadians view the rising cost of living as the far-and-away top priority, ahead of health-care, home ownership and Canada-U.S. relations and those findings are consistent across all regions and age groups. Grocery prices are a top concern, and they rise the older you get, from 61% of those aged 18 to 29 to 93% of those aged 60 and over.
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Not a political problem for Carney … yet
Abacus said Canadians who view cost-of-living as a top issue skew Conservative in terms of voter intention at 44%, with the Liberals at 38% and the NDP at 8%. Government approval reaches 41% for cost of living voters, with 57% among others. Similar numbers reflect approval for Prime Minister Mark Carney himself.
“These gaps matter. They show that affordability concerns are associated with weaker approval and softer personal ratings,” Abacus said. “At the same time, they also show that the issue has not yet become a defining political liability for the Carney government.”