Less than a quarter of Canadians are happy with how the government spends money: Ipsos survey

Less than a quarter of Canadians think the federal government is properly spending money on the most important issues facing the country, according to a new survey.

Less than a quarter (23 per cent) of Canadians think the federal government is properly spending money on the most important issues facing the country, according to new survey data from Ipsos.

The survey, conducted on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute, also found 64 per cent of people think the government is doing an ineffective job allocating funds to address important problems, while 13 per cent said they don't know or preferred not to answer.

More than half of Canadians (55 per cent) said the government spends too much money, while 27 per cent think it is an acceptable level, according to the poll. Only nine per cent of Canadians said government spending is too low, while another nine per cent said they don't know or preferred not to answer.

The majority of those surveyed (67 per cent) think they pay too much money in income tax, while one per cent think they don’t pay enough. According to Ipsos, 65 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women believe the amount they pay in income tax is too high. Younger Canadians (aged 18 to 34) are more likely to think taxes are too high (72 per cent) compared to Canadians aged 55 and older (63 per cent).

The poll also found most people (63 per cent) are unhappy with the accountability and transparency of the government's spending practices—31 per cent said they were satisfied with them.

The poll gauged Canadians' thoughts on carbon pricing, which people are generally slightly more likely to dislike. Ipsos says 25 per cent of Canadians strongly oppose it and another 20 per cent somewhat oppose it—in total, 41 per cent of people said they support carbon pricing while 45 per cent oppose it. Fifteen per cent of people said they don't know or preferred not to answer. According to the data, 68 per cent of people from Atlantic Canada oppose carbon pricing, while 47 per cent of Quebecers support it.

More than six in ten Canadians think higher government spending over the past three years is causing higher levels of inflation, while 26 per cent disagree. A similar amount of men (26 per cent) and women (25 per cent) said they disagree that government spending is driving inflation up.