56% of Canadians say they can’t keep pace with high cost of living, according to survey

Over half of Canadians say they can not maintain tempo with the present price of residing, in accordance with a survey launched Monday by the Angus Reid Institute.

The polling agency surveyed 2,279 Canadian adults who’re members of the Angus Reid Discussion board from Aug. 8-10 and discovered that 56 per cent of them are struggling to maintain up as excessive inflation and rates of interest pressure them to tighten their belts.

4 in 5 respondents, or 80 per cent, stated they’ve lowered some form of spending in the previous couple of months, with 57 per cent reporting they’ve trimmed discretionary bills.

Three quarters of Canadians say they’re careworn about cash. Whereas July inflation decreased to 7.6 per cent from a 39-year excessive of 8.1 in June, indicating that inflation has slowed down for the primary time in over a 12 months, meals costs have risen 10 per cent since final 12 months.

If there’s one factor that every one Canadians agree on, as indicated by this survey, it is a perception that grocery chains are making the most of excessive inflation to hike costs and enhance their income — a phenomenon coined “greedflation.”

Seventy-eight per cent of Canadians had been aligned in believing that is taking place, no matter demographics, although main grocery chains like Empire and Loblaws have denied it, saying they’ve turn into extra environment friendly.

To assist afford the requirements:

• Over 40 per cent of Canadians say they’re delaying a serious buy and driving much less.
• Thirty-two per cent cancelled or curtailed journey plans this 12 months, whereas over 1 / 4 opted to reduce on charitable donations as they alter their budgets.
• Nineteen per cent stated they’re deferring contributions to their tax-free financial savings accounts and retirement financial savings plans.

Canadians got a state of affairs through which they’d obtain a non-conditional reward of $5,000 — and 10 per cent stated they’d use it to deal with fast monetary obligations, whereas 38 per cent would use it for long-term wants; 43 per cent would save the cash whereas 9 per cent would make an expensive buy.

But when the alternative occurred — through which they incurred a shock expense of $1,000 or extra — half stated they’d not be capable of shoulder the expense. 13 per cent say any unplanned expense can be “an excessive amount of,” the polling agency stated in its report.

The Angus Reid Institute carried out its survey on-line. For comparability functions solely, a chance pattern of this measurement would carry a margin of error of plus or minus two share factors, 19 instances out of 20.