Rising prices have affected nearly everyone across the country and some say they’ve now reached their breaking point. New data shows that over 50 per cent of Canadians are having trouble keeping up with inflation.
Findings of a recent Ipsos poll revealed that 32 per cent of people are struggling to continually meet rising costs of everyday essentials.
This is just one of the many statistics highlighting the financial difficulty people in the country are currently facing.
“Twenty-two per cent of Canadians, that’s more than one in five, say that they’re completely out of money. Saying that there is no way that they can pay any more for household expenses,” said Sanyam Sethi, vice-president of Ipsos Public Affairs.
“Things are not looking up. The concerns are nowhere close to being alleviated.”
Findings of the poll show that over 50 per cent of Canadians are struggling to stay afloat and women are most concerned about their finances.
“Women are nearly twice as likely as men to say that there is no way they can pay more for household expenses or household necessities that they are completely tapped out,” said Sethi.
Women are concerned they won’t have enough money to feed their families and women’s shelters in Kelowna say their resources are in high demand, as people need the support.
“Whether it’s this year or five years ago or unfortunately five years in the future we are always going to be full. That’s just our reality with or without an economical crisis,” said Allison Mclauchlan, executive director of the Kelowna Women’s Shelter.
Mclauchlan says it can also be harder for women who have escaped an abusive situation to become financially stable again.
“When you think about a woman who has been financially abused for 10 years that has no bank account, has no savings, has no earnings and how difficult that is,” Mclauchlan said.
In Kelowna, residents told Global News that they have been forced to change their spending habits due to the rising cost of living.
And with the price of fuel rising once again, more than 55 per cent of Canadians were worried they wouldn’t be able to afford gas.
The full findings of the Ipsos poll can be found here.
