Economy tanking but government approval ratings surprisingly high

It would be tempting to assume that with the loonie hovering at 69 cents US and the country’s economic outlook seeming bleaker by the day, Canadians wouldn’t be too happy with their newly minted federal government.

Public opinion of Ottawa’s performance is often hardwired into economic indicators. But not always.

The Liberals under Justin Trudeau are actually enjoying a bump in public support, explained Bruce Anderson, chairman of Abacus data.

“Right now, we’ve got two out of three people saying the economy’s in poor shape, but we’ve got only one in three – in fact, less than that, 25 per cent – who are disappointed in the current government,” Anderson told The West Block’s Tom Clark.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Right now, we've got two out of three people saying the economy's in poor shape, but we've got only one in three - in fact, less than that, 25 per cent - who are disappointed in the current government," Anderson told The West Block's Tom Clark.

Part of the reason for the disconnect between the country’s fiscal fortunes and views on the current government could be how Canadians tend to view the economy now as opposed to a few decades ago. People are increasingly aware of the interconnected nature of global financial markets, and understand that Canada’s fortunes are linked to those of other nations around the world, Anderson said.

“There’s only so much they believe that governments can do to stop headwinds from affecting us or to create favourable winds for us,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's only so much they believe that governments can do to stop headwinds from affecting us or to create favourable winds for us," he said.

“So there will be more pressure if things continue to deteriorate, but it’ll be qualified pressure as people look around the world and say maybe things could be worse.”

Not surprisingly, Conservative voters have tended to have fewer nice things to say about the Liberal approach to governing in recent weeks, Anderson told Clark.But they were also perhaps more willing to see stimulus spending happen in order to kickstart the sluggish economy, which gives the Trudeau government some breathing room.

Overall, Anderson said Ottawa can probably get away with moderately-sized deficit spending without major political consequences – but Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his team must be cautious.

“It’s perilous for a government to look as though it doesn’t care about achieving some kind of fiscal balance in the near or medium term.”

Watch the full interview above.