Debt, Deficit & CERB

The results of a survey conducted by Maru/Blue Public Opinion indicate that while Canadians believe the federal government had no choice than to rachet up spending and the deficit while facing down the impact of the pandemic—and that most are grateful for the decisions that followed—three quarters (76%) are very concerned with the impact of the federal debt over the long term for our young people and deeply worried over how the deficit and debt will affect their taxes (74%).

But the majority (59%) of Canadian adults are more focused on surviving today than worrying about the size of the deficit or debt—with one in five (21%) saying that if they don’t continue receiving COVID-19 financial support – like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)– from the government, they literally could lose the roof over their head.

Even so, the question of what to do next is not clear as the country splits on shutting down CERB: less than half (48%) of Canadians believe that we should start to decrease spending by shutting down the CERB program regardless of what the impact may be on people.