Canadians want Carney focus on affordability: poll

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute suggests Canadians are giving Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government a passing grade in its first year of international relations, but it has failed to meet expectations on affordability issues. 

The poll asked 2,013 Canadians a series of questions about the government’s performance since it won the election on April 28, 2025.

Last spring’s election campaign was dominated by the trade war with the U.S. and centred on who was best positioned to handle the relationship with the mercurial President Donald Trump and the economic turbulence of his tariffs. 

Carney has continued to lead in national polls all year as the leader Canadians consider to be most capable of managing that relationship heading into the July review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. 

A year later, just 31 per cent of those polled said they think the Canada-U.S. relationship will be the top concern for the government in the next year. The No. 1 priority for 52 per cent of respondents was reducing the cost of living. 

Seventy per cent of those polled said they feel the government has fallen short of expectations when it comes to addressing the high cost of living and 67 per cent felt the Liberals missed the mark on improving housing affordability. 

The Liberals pledged to create the “most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War” in the last election, which they said would double the rate of residential construction over the next decade.

The annual rate of housing starts decreased six per cent last month, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

A majority — 59 per cent — of those polled felt the Liberals met or exceeded expectations on defence spending and meeting its NATO commitments. Canada has finally met the NATO alliance pledge to spend the equivalent of two per cent of GDP on defence this year.

The picture was brighter, however, when it comes to the government’s performance internationally. 

A majority of people who took part in the poll — 56 per cent — said they felt Carney was meeting or beating expectations at managing the relationship with Trump.

Sixty-four per cent said the Liberals met or exceeded expectations in improving Canada’s international reputation, and 57 per cent said expectations were met or exceeded when it comes to diversifying trade. 

That’s been a major focus for the prime minister since he took office. The Liberals have set out to double non-U. S. exports over the next decade and have boasted about signing 20 strategic trade and defence agreements around the world in the last year. 

Carney has travelled to 25 countries during 17 international trips that date back to March 2025. 

Those high-profile trips have included stops in China and India, countries with whom Canada has had strained relations in recent years. 

Carney’s travel has also drawn criticism from the opposition.

The poll respondents had mixed reviews for whether the government is meeting its election promises: 41 per cent said it had, while another 41 per cent said it had not. 

Among Liberal voters, just 12 per cent said Carney has exceeded expectations in the first year.

And 42 per cent said they feel the country is on the wrong track, compared to 34 per cent who said it’s on the right track. 

Conservative voters felt most strongly that the country is headed in the wrong direction, at 75 per cent, and that the government is falling short of expectations on addressing cost-of-living challenges, at 86 per cent. 

Carney’s own ratings continue to be high, with 58 per cent of respondents saying they approve of his performance as prime minister. 

Angus Reid notes that number is higher than past prime ministers Stephen Harper, Paul Martin and Brian Mulroney at the one-year mark, and lower than Jean Chrétien and Justin Trudeau.

The poll was conducted between April 15 and 20. 

The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2026.

By Sarah Ritchie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.