A Department of Finance survey says most Canadians have “considerable cynicism” about the cabinet’s annual ritual of Budget Day promises, with pollsters observing an “estrangement from the budget” for some taxpayers.
“Many participants in all the groups struggled to see how the measures presented will impact them or their family members,” it added. “This perception the budget will not have a direct impact on their lives seems to be fuelling the observed estrangement from the budget for some.”
The Department of Finance commissioned Léger Marketing Inc. to conduct the $59,192 research.
“The general feeling among participants was that the budget speech contained a lot of promises, and whether those promises would be kept was left to see,” the survey said. “Most participants thought that what was said in the budget speech will not have an impact on them or their household.”
“The current state of the economy was rated as poor by half the participants and none gave a rating higher than ‘good,’” the survey said. “The majority of participants described the state of their finances as fair or poor.”
The survey was based on questionnaires with focus groups across the country, with participants giving real-time responses after listening to Freeland’s budget speech. Respondents were asked to turn a handheld dial based on whether they felt positive or negative, according to the survey.
Similar research in past years drew mixed results, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Taxpayers had a “lukewarm reaction” to references to climate change, said the A.C. Nielson Co. study, while phrases like “spending over ten years” scored badly, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.