When Justin Trudeau became Canada’s Prime Minister in 2015, his unrelenting promise to improve the lives of the middle class resonated strongly with Sivan Burke, who joined him in the election to become Prime Minister of Canada. He began working for a Liberal MP.
But 10 years later, as Mr. Trudeau prepares to leave office amid deep dissatisfaction among voters, Mr. Burke said his promises have barely permeated his family’s daily lives. Toronto.
Like many Canadians, Burke is acutely aware of how much of her budget is being consumed by trying to fill her shopping cart.
Peterborough was once one of the places Torontonians came to escape soaring real estate prices, but like many parts of the country, housing costs have soared in recent years.
Burke, a contract municipal worker, is one of the many middle-class Canadians who helped Mr. Trudeau come to power, but he is increasingly frustrated by the persistently high cost of living and a laggard income.
The latest edition of Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest financial institution, found that 55 per cent of respondents “feel financially paralyzed by rising costs.”
Recent opinion polls show Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal Party trailing the Conservatives by at least 20 percentage points in a national election scheduled for as early as spring. Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poièvre has relentlessly attacked Trudeau, calling inflation “Justinflation.”
The gains for the Conservatives came in areas like Peterborough, which once supported Mr. Trudeau but has now turned against him over economic concerns.
As a result, Mr. Trudeau announced earlier this month that he would resign as Liberal leader and prime minister after the Liberal Party selects a successor on March 9, leading to a sharp decline in his position.
Nearly a year after he took power, 73 per cent of Canadians approve of his leadership, an unusually high number for a Canadian politician. The survey, conducted this month shortly after Mr. Trudeau announced he was stepping down, found that 19 percent of respondents view him favorably.
Peterborough was once known as “Electric City” due to its huge General Electric factory complex, which largely closed in 2018 after 126 years of operation. Both here and elsewhere in Canada, concerns about food and housing costs often dominate conversations.
During a visit to Peterborough in 2017, Prime Minister Trudeau told City Hall, “The government should help you, not hurt you.”
But during his tenure, many Canadians only experienced further economic pain.
Since Mr. Trudeau took office in 2015, average home prices have increased by 56%, with the biggest increases in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver, and spreading to surrounding suburbs. Housing in Peterborough has increased by 132 percent since 2015.
Annual estimates compiled by food researchers and economists from four universities show that last year, Canadian family of four I spent C$16,300 on groceries, about $11,300. This is about 29% higher than before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which caused price spikes around the world.
“Grocery stuff is crazy and crazy, but I just accept it,” Alex Burke said. artist said the Peterborough City Councilman from his studio in a downtown office building. “I feel powerless against it.”
He had bought a bag of pine nuts at Costco for about $10 Canadian. “I looked at it now and it was a smaller version of the same bag for about $30.”
Income is not keeping up. According to the latest information, from 2016 to 2022 data According to available data, average personal income in Canada was C$57,100, an increase of only 8%. This also led to labor disputes, including the closure of Canada’s two major railways and the post office.
Mr. Burke said he was disappointed in Mr. Trudeau’s response to the plight of the middle class.
“I don’t see how anyone, especially politicians, can avoid drawing a line between increasing food prices and increasing profits held by grocery stores,” she said. “We are seeing a widening wealth gap between the richest and most powerful people in this country and everyone else.”
This sentiment is reflected in conversations in Peterborough, a city of about 130,000 people, where the marketing research firm believes its residents’ shopping habits reflect those of the average Canadian consumer. , the city is frequently used to test new products.
On Peterborough’s south side, in an area dominated by modest bungalows built for factory workers, Dan Toomey, 60, is struggling to keep up with the rent his three daughters pay and the cost of owning a home. He said he was despairing of his chances of becoming a citizen.
Mr Toomey, who works at a fireplace shop, said he and his wife bought the modest three-bedroom house 25 years ago for C$125,000. He said he received offers of about $750,000 before interest rates rose and the market cooled.
“This house isn’t worth that much,” he said. Additionally, staying in Peterborough will likely require you to spend the same amount on a new, possibly smaller home.
Toomey said low interest rates and the pandemic contributed to the rise in home prices, but also Trudeau’s immigration expansion (more than 2 million immigrants arrived in two years, which the prime minister supports). He also said that he believed it. I now admit I went too far, but that was the main factor.
“We need immigrants, we are a fairly small country,” he said. “But we didn’t need that level.”
The Trudeau government has succeeded in bringing inflation down from a high of 8% in 2022 to about 2%, but food prices remain high.
And Canada’s economic situation could soon deteriorate significantly. President Trump has said he plans to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian exports on February 1st. Such sweeping measures could devastate Canada’s economy, lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses, and push prices even higher as companies pass costs on to customers.
Mr Burke, the Peterborough councilor, said he was particularly frustrated by another symptom of the country’s housing crisis, particularly the growing number of homeless people living in tent encampments.
Burke worked with the city’s public housing authority to replace the downtown tent camp with 50 small modular homes arranged around shared washroom and eating areas and staffed with support workers. However, funding for 16 more units remains in limbo, as they will need to be sourced through the state government.
He said: “Every city in the country has an encampment problem, so the government needs to prioritize subsidized housing.” And the problem is only getting worse as people are forced into homelessness due to the high cost of living. ”
Rising food prices are forcing Jim Riedich, owner of Chumley’s, a used DVD, video game, CD and record store on Peterborough’s high street, to scour grocery store ads for bargains for the first time in his life. He said it became. He also works to provide local college students who come into the store with advice about cheaper grocery options, such as discount stores.
He said he was once enthusiastic about Mr. Trudeau and what he could do for the country, but is now disillusioned with his performance.
“That’s not to say he didn’t work hard and wasn’t dedicated to his people over the years,” Riedich said. “I voted Liberal every time.”
But he added that government policies are no longer working to help enough Canadians. “It’s time for him to go,” Riedik said.
