New poll shows Albertans are increasingly worried about their finances

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A new nationwide poll shows Albertans are worried about their personal finances and feel as though they are falling behind as inflation rates continue to remain high.

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The poll, conducted in December by Pollara, surveyed 451 Albertans as part of a larger canvassing that recorded the feelings of 4,020 Canadians on how they felt toward personal, national and global finances. Dan Arnold, Pollara’s Chief Strategy Officer, said both Canadians and Albertans are more worried about their money than they have been over the past decade, noting Pollara has been running the poll for two decades.

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“This is the most pessimistic that Canadians have been since, really the economic crash in 2008, 2009 and the mood in Alberta is equally bleak,” said Arnold. “I know that there’s an economist’s definition of a recession that we don’t qualify for but Canadians are not economists, they kind of look around and they have a gut feeling and they’re feeling right now that things are not going very good.”

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Of the more than 450 Albertans polled, 47 per cent said they feel as though they have been losing ground financially over the past several years while 42 per cent felt as though they were holding their own. Eight per cent said they felt as though they were getting ahead.

Nationally, those numbers came in at 38 per cent, 44 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.There is a 4.7 per cent margin of error attributed to Albertan responses.

While looking to the future, 61 per cent of respondents said they felt their household incomes would fall behind inflation in 2023 and 74 per cent highlighted negative feelings about their financial situation.

“They already feel like things are not going great and there’s not a lot of optimism when you look ahead to 2023 either in Alberta or in the rest of the country for that matter,” said Arnold.

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The poll found 80 per cent of respondents from Alberta said they felt Canada’s economy is in a recession.

A recession is generally defined as occuring when there is a slowing of spending or economic activity for two consecutive quarters. Other definitions keep its limits more broad using a phrase stating there must be a prolonged, widespread and significant downturn.

Analysts in Canada have made a number of assessments and predictions on the country’s economic outlook with some stating the country could be in for a “downturn” and others predicting a full recession.

Trevor Tombe, an economist with the University of Calgary said Canada is absolutely not in a recession stating latest job market numbers remain strong. He said he believes if Albertans were pressed to clarify their thoughts they would agree we are not in a net recession but noted those 80 per cent of respondents are stating they are having a difficult or stressed time financially in the face of inflation.

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“Inflation historically drives consumer sentiment in a large way. That’s inflation in general but gas prices, energy prices in particular,” said Tombe. “When those goods are expensive or rise in price rapidly, we tend to see consumer sentiment fall and that does matter because people might engage in what’s called precautionary savings.”

Tombe said that sentiment, with people delaying large purchases, could have a shrinking effect but that it wouldn’t be a major shrinking of economic activity.

“It’s not the make or break to whether or not the economy grows or shrinks,” said Tombe.

Both Tombe and Arnold said regardless of a recession or not, people’s attitudes towards their finances matter as it affects people’s attitude.

Arnold said if people are feeling that they have to pinch their pennies that could lead to changes in voting habits.

Meanwhile, Tombe said he believes that’s a reason why governments across the country have taken notice and introduced measures to ease voters’ financial burdens.

dshort@postmedia.com