The latest release from the Public Monitor features our ongoing tracking of economic confidence and financial well-being. The survey reveals that the recent economic upswing is being noticed by Canadians but it is not translating into improve financial well-being.
The key highlights in this release include:
- Economic confidence is on the upswing.
- The financial well-being of Canadians, however, has not improved.
- Our report reveals that ongoing concerns about inflation are at play.
Please see our report for a more detailed presentation, including additional findings, tracking results and data tables.
Public confidence in the economy has improved markedly since late 2025 but it is still well into negative territory.
While confidence in the Canadian economy took a big hit at the time of the federal budget late last year, it has rebounded nicely over the past 9 months.
- Unfortunately, the net outlook remains firmly negative and still worse than 2022.
While economic confidence has improved, confidence in household finances remains low.
Fewer than half of Canadians rate their household finances positively.
Inflation and housing continue to top the risks to the financial well-being of Canadians.
Although economic confidence has improved over the first half of 2026, Canadians remain very concerned about inflation.
- The cost of housing is also seen as a major risk to the financial well-being of many Canadians.
Discussion
Both economic confidence and Canadians’ sense of financial well-being took a big hit with the Carney government’s first budget, as the Public Monitor showed at that time. While economic confidence has improved, the same cannot be said of household financial well-being.
Despite an economic uptick, large numbers of Canadians remain very concerned about both inflation and the cost of housing. After a drop from 2022 highs, inflation has trended up over the past year. As with most economic and financial indicators, these risks are felt unevenly (please see report for data tables). Canadians under 45 years of age and renters are feeling especially vulnerable.
In terms of the economy, it may well be that Canadians have felt the uptick in economic output over the first half of 2026. Seeing the economy in a more favourable light than late last year is somewhat counter-intuitive given the raging war of words around Canada-U.S. trade relations. This survey was conducted prior to the implementation of more Tariffs from Trump (and also prior to Stats Can’s latest report on economic growth) but it was also conducted in the midst of rocky negotiations that few Canadians felt would turn out well. The most likely explanation for the boost in economic confidence is that the Canadian economy has been resilient in the face of the continual threats from our southern neighbour.
We will continue to monitor this situation over the coming months.
Methodology
The Public Monitor is powered by the Modalis Public Opinion Panel – one of Canada’s only fully probability-based research panels.
The survey was conducted online using both email and SMS invitations/reminders, and completed via desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. A total of 1,646 responses were gathered from Canadian adults. As Modalis is 100% recruited using RDD probability-based telephone sampling, it is statistically valid to calculate the margin of error – it is plus or minus 2.4% at a 95% confidence interval.
The survey was conducted from August 10 to 23, 2026. We run surveys at the optimal timeframe for online surveys (~ two weeks) to mitigate the early response bias of quick turnaround surveys. Importantly, this measurement was taken just prior to the latest economic update from Statistics Canada showing healthy growth through the first half of 2026.
The data have been weighted by age, gender, region and education using the latest Census population data from Statistics Canada.
The Public Monitor
The Public Monitor is a monthly omnibus survey ideally suited for discerning clients who need a cost-effective solution to their public opinion research needs without compromising quality.
The Monitor is powered by the Modalis Public Opinion Panel – one of Canada’s only fully probability-based research panels. There is no need to compromise data quality when using an omnibus.
