Are high interest rates and inflation to blame for the Liberals’ slide in polls?
Global News
As the governing Liberals continue to slide in the polls, the slow-moving hurricane that may actually end up blowing them away appears to be the economy.
Justin Trudeau’s government has had to weather many storms over the last eight years.
The SNC-Lavalin controversy. An old yearbook photo with the prime minister in blackface. Multiple ethics violations. The COVID-19 pandemic.
But as the governing Liberals continue to slide in the polls, the slow-moving hurricane that may actually end up blowing them away appears to be the economy.
For many, the pandemic has receded into little more than a bad memory. But the economic domino effect it touched off lingers on, wreaking electoral havoc on incumbent governments around the world.
High inflation and interest rates have left people feeling worse off, even as the Canadian economy outperforms expectations in many ways.
Polls suggest the governing party is badly trailing the Conservatives. Cost-of-living issues are dominating federal politics and a resurgent Tory party is placing the blame for the erosion of affordability squarely on Trudeau’s shoulders.
Support for the Conservatives took off this summer, just as the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates again after pausing its rate-hiking cycle earlier in the year.
“That was when people were starting to cycle through the first wave of mortgage renewals,” said Tyler Meredith, a former head of economic strategy and planning for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.