A new poll has found that Canadians are split on whether they support increasing the income tax to help bolster Canada’s defence spending against possible threats.
The latest national public opinion poll from Nanos Research, commissioned by CTV News and The Globe and Mail, reports that 19 per cent of respondents support and 28 per cent somewhat support the move. However, polling showed 31 per cent of those surveyed oppose raising taxes for defence spending while 17 per cent somewhat oppose it.
Five per cent of respondents reported they were unsure of how they felt about this.
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According to Nanos, Canadians shared similar views when they were asked about increasing the HST by one per cent to aid Canada’s defence budget.
Residents of Quebec were most likely to oppose the move, while those in Atlantic Canada, Ontario and B.C. were most in favour of increasing the income tax for defence spending.
Generationally, the survey found younger Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more likely to oppose increasing the income tax (46 per cent) and the HST (also 46 per cent) on defence spending compared to older Canadians aged 55 plus, 20 per cent of whom oppose increasing the income tax and 24 per cent oppose raising HST.
The polling comes amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential of escalation.
Canada currently spends approximately 1.39 per cent of GDP on its defence budget, short of NATO’s request to allocate two per cent of GDP spending. In order to reach the NATO target, Canada would have to commit to spend billions more annually.
Despite being divided on increasing taxes to help with defence spending, Nanos found that Canadians "marginally favour" spending more money on defence to meet the challenges posed by such threats as the war in Ukraine, rather than on social programs to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the poll, 45 per cent of respondents are in favour of spending more on defence, compared to 39 per cent who said they’d rather see more spending dedicated to support programs to help those struggling amid the pandemic. Of those surveyed, 16 per cent said they were unsure.
Residents of Quebec (47 per cent) are more likely to favour spending money on social programs, according to Nanos, while Canadians in the Prairies are more likely to support increased defence spending.
Nanos reports that younger Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 (55 per cent) were also more likely to favour increased spending for social programs to help with COVID-19 compared to older Canadians (30 per cent).
The margin of error for this survey is 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
METHODOLOGY
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between March 18 and 22, 2022 as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The sample included both land- and cell-lines across Canada. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada.
Individuals were randomly called using random digit dialling with a maximum of five call backs.
RELATED IMAGESview larger image
A woman takes a photo as HMCS Halifax departs Halifax in support of NATO’s deterrence measures in eastern Europe on Saturday, March 19, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
