pollCanadians are growing more concerned about the state of the economy and the impacts on their pocketbooks, a new poll suggests, with a majority now saying they are worried they won’t have enough money to feed their families.The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News found 53 per cent of those surveyed were fearful about having enough food on the table, up nine points from just a month ago.“It’s quite a startling statistic,” said Sean Simpson, senior vice-president of Ipsos Public Affairs.But the poll also found economic concerns have grown across the board since October — particularly when it comes to the Just under half of respondents (48 per cent) said they are worried about getting over their heads with holiday spending, marking a 15-point jump, while 52 per cent feared they won’t have enough for holiday gifts (up seven points).Concern over a potential recession hitting Canada within the next year has also gone up three points, with 86 per cent of Canadians surveyed now saying they’re either somewhat or very worried.“We’re seeing quite remarkable and significant changes in such a short period of time,” Simpson said.“Canadians clearly have heightened anxieties over the potential for a recession, over interest rates, over high inflation. And as a result, we’re seeing dramatic changesThe poll was released hours before the Bank of Canada was expected to conclude a historic year marked by high inflation and aggressive monetary policy tightening with one more interest rate hike on Wednesday.In the wake of rapidly-rising inflation this year, the Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate six consecutive times since March, racing to clamp down on inflation expectations before they became unmooredThe rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, and even a smaller hike would bring the interest rate to the highest it’s been since 2008.
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