Budget 2024: Majority of Canadians concerned about deficit, say federal government is spending 'too much'

April 11, 2024 – Days ahead of a federal budget that’s had most of the mystery taken out of it with a series of high-profile spending announcements by the prime minister and senior members of his cabinet, new data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds three-in-five (59%) Canadians saying even before the $18 billion in spending commitments were announced, federal finances had grown too large and that cuts are in order.

Political affiliation is key to understanding opinions of federal spending. Nine-in-ten (87%) current CPC voters say the federal government is spending too much overall. This from supporters of a party with a massive vote intention advantage.

Importantly, 2021 Liberal voters who still support the party are much less likely than those who have since changed their support to another party to say that government spending is too high (29% versus 47%). Still, that 29 per cent is nearly four times the proportion who say that they would spend more (8%). This suggests that the appetite for spending among Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s previous supporters has waned considerably in the post-COVID environment.

As Canadians eye growing federal government spending with some concern – two-thirds say they worry over the federal deficit – there are some areas where many would like to see cuts. Three-in-five (59%) would trim foreign aid. One-in-three or more also say that they would cut from government services (32%), environmental programs (32%) or Indigenous spending (39%).

That said, there are myriad other areas where Canadians say the federal government is not spending enough. Health care is an area where two-thirds (67%) would increase spending.

Further, half (48%) would increase spending on national defence – something the Liberal government announced on April 8 that it would do in the coming years. Canada has faced considerable pressure from NATO allies to spend two per cent of GDP on defence (something no Canadian federal government has done since 1991). New investments will bring spending from 1.4 per cent closer to 1.8 per cent.

Views of where to spend money also fall along political lines, with a few exceptions. All party supporters are more likely to say spending in health care should be increased and foreign aid should be decreased. There are sharp partisan divides, however, over Indigenous and environmental programs. While current CPC voters would cut from each, Liberal and NDP voters would sustain or increase them.

More Key Findings:

• Seven-in-ten (68%) current Conservative supporters say they are “very concerned” about the federal deficit, outnumbering current Liberal (12%), NDP (15%) and Bloc (20%) backers who say the same.

• At least half of all party supporters say they would follow through with both dental care and pharmacare, though they differ about how they would fund these programs.

Link to the poll here: www.angusreid.org/

Download .PDF with detailed tables, graphs and methodology.

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