From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

MNP Consumer Debt Index survey indicates that 46% of Canadians are close to financial devastation after years of Justin Trudeau’s policies led to high inflation.

Hot off the heels of a report that Canada’s poverty rate increased for the first time in years due to high inflation spurred by government spending, a new poll shows that nearly half of Canadians are only $200 from complete financial ruin.

According to the MNP Consumer Debt Index survey, which was conducted by Ipsos and released on July 22, 46 percent of Canadians are a few hundred dollars away from not being able to meet their financial obligations.

“Some individuals are living paycheque to paycheque, struggling to make ends meet and cover day-to-day necessities. Others are so deeply indebted that their financial challenges won’t be manageable, regardless of interest rates,” noted Grant Bazian, president of MNP LTD, in the press release.

“Canadians may have hoped for a more significant cut to interest rates or to experience a quicker impact from the reduction.”

Bazian noted that “With the prices of many daily necessities still high, many have not seen the meaningful decrease in their monthly expenses needed to ease their financial burdens.”

According to MNP, Canada’s Consumer Debt Index “has dropped to 85 points, down six points from the previous quarter.”

The survey showed that about one-in-three Canadians, or 29 percent, indicated they can’t cover bill payments, with people who are about $1 to $20 from insolvency increasing by 3 points.

The province with the highest rise in financial duress is Alberta, with about 47 percent of Albertans saying they are just $200 from complete financial ruin.

In June, LifeSiteNews reported that despite decades of progress in lowering the poverty rate in Canada has been wiped out in the last few years under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, one of his own federal departments has reported.

Despite the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates by half a point to 4.5 from 5 percent in the last few months, according to MNP, this won’t help much in terms of helping struggling families pay their basic bills.

Under Trudeau, due to excessive COVID money printing, inflation has skyrocketed.

LifeSiteNews reported that fast-rising food costs in Canada have led to many people feeling a sense of “hopelessness and desperation” with nowhere to turn for help, according to the Canadian government’s own National Advisory Council on Poverty.

In 2021, Canada’s Parliament raised the federal debt borrowing amount by a whopping 56 percent under the Borrowing Authority Act. The amount went from $1.168 trillion to $1.831 trillion.

Previously speaking to LifeSiteNews, Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) federal director Franco Terrazzano urged the Trudeau government to cut spending, balance the budget and “completely scrap” the “carbon tax.”

In January, the National Advisory Council on Poverty (NACP) observed to Parliament that fast-rising food costs have led to many people feeling a sense of “hopelessness and desperation.”