Adam: Do people want more or less public spending? Polls differ

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The federal budget debate has focused on what some see as runaway spending, and certainly $53 billion in new spending is a lot of money.

And although recent polls seem to suggest that a majority of Canadians believe the Liberal government is spending too much, there is such a divergence of opinion that it is not clear whether they really want less spending.

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Whether you ask people who can’t find housing, the six million Canadians without a family doctor, mayors who oversee broken transportation systems, or advocates for a strong military, the cry is for more money, not less.

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It all comes down to what constitutes a priority, and yours may be different than mine. You may care about the impact of increased spending on inflation, while someone wants more money to go toward lifting people out of poverty.

It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. Since different people and groups want the government to focus on different priorities, what constitutes excessive spending is in the eye of the beholder.

So whether you read between the lines or take the polls in their entirety, what Canadians say about public spending is often contradictory.

Take the Nanos Research survey conducted from February 28 to March 2. It found that 63 per cent of Canadians wanted the federal government to spend less. A survey by Angus Reid conducted March 20-22, said 59 per cent of Canadians believe the federal government is spending too much, while 18 per cent agreed with the spending levels.

“Canadians prefer, by a wide margin, spending reductions to spending increases,” said polling chief Nik Nanos. But do they really do it? Consider a Léger survey carried out two months before, which found that 71 per cent of Canadians wanted the government to spend more on health care and health transfers. On housing and cost of living, 66 percent favored increased spending.

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One wonders whether the Canadians who tell pollsters they want more spending on housing and health care are the same ones who say the government is spending too much.

The Liberal budget proposes $8.5 billion for housing and a $6 billion disability benefit. One billion is set aside for a national school feeding program. Is this the kind of spending that 63 per cent in the Nanos poll, or 59 per cent in the Angus Reid poll, say is too much?

Defense spending adds another problem. A Angus Reid Survey published on March 5 showed that 53 percent want defense spending to rise to the NATO benchmark of two percent of GDP.

Additionally, an Ekos survey conducted in January found that 66 percent of respondents wanted more defense spending, while 18 percent wanted less. So Canadians say the government is spending too much and at the same time they want more spending on housing, health care and defence. Which begs the question: Do Canadians want more or less spending?

The Léger survey also revealed more contradictory opinions. When answering questions about deficits, 67 percent said federal spending should be frozen “to control deficits and return to balanced budgets,” even though 71 percent favored more spending on health care and housing. On the other hand, 72 percent agreed that returning to balanced budgets “too quickly” could be detrimental. Despite all that, 56 percent said they did not want public spending to be limited at all, at least not now. What Canadians want or don’t want is so dizzying that it makes your head spin.

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“Someone meaner than me would say he wants to have his cake and eat it too,” said Leger executive vice president Christian Bourque. Indeed.

It seems that Canadians are conflicted about public spending. Their answers to pollsters’ questions seem to change on any given day. Today it may be “yes, cut spending” and tomorrow “no, we need to spend more.”

If you are mayor, for example, housing and public transportation are top priorities that need to be funded. Someone else might favor defense or tax cuts.

That’s why opinions on spending vary so much. And for the government, the challenge is finding the right balance, which is often difficult to achieve.

Mohamed Adam is a journalist and commentator from Ottawa. Contact him at [email protected]

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