Canadians are mostly looking for help paying their bills in the 2024 federal budget, not investments in the military or clean energy transitions, according to polling released Friday.

The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News surveyed 1,000 Canadians between March 15 and 18 about what their top three priorities were for the upcoming federal budget, set to be tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on April 16.

The cumulative top priority for those polled was help with the rising cost of living (44 per cent).

Women (53 per cent) more so than men (36 per cent) rated cost-of-living support as a priority. Half of gen X respondents (those born between 1965 and 1980) said they were looking for pocketbook help in the budget, the highest proportion of any generation.

“Pocketbook issues dominate the list of the things that Canadians want to see addressed in the budget,” Sean Simpson, senior vice-president at Ipsos Global Affairs, tells Global News.

He says he sees a clear focus among voters on taxes, affordability and other household finances in the polling.

“All those issues, in some way, shape or form, are tied to the amount of money that Canadians have that seems to be draining from their wallet at record speeds these days,” Simpson says.

The other budget line item garnering significant interest is investments in health care, with 38 per cent of respondents ranking it as a priority.

But when asked about a hypothetical hike of one per cent in the GST to fund services like pharmacare – the framework for which the Liberals have introduced as part of their supply-and-confidence deal with the NDP – only five per cent of those surveyed said they saw it as a priority.

Instead, more Canadians are signalling that they’re hoping for a reduced tax burden from Ottawa.

One in three respondents said they’d like to see a cut to their personal tax rates included in the 2024 budget, while one in five said they want the Liberals to freeze the federal carbon price, which rose on April 1. The planned increase spurred countrywide protests that halted traffic on major Canadian roadways.

Some 19 per cent said they wanted to see the Liberals reduce their overall spending, while 18 per cent signalled reducing the federal deficit should be a priority for Ottawa this spring.

But like Canadians, the federal government is finding it has less cash on hand to meet its own rising costs, including servicing debt under the weight of higher interest rates. The parliamentary budget officer said in a report last month that the slowing economy and rising debt costs are leaving Ottawa with little fiscal wiggle room heading into the 2024 budget.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal MPs have been on a cross-country tour teeing up line items in the budget related to Canada’s housing market, affordability and homebuilding efforts.

Some 15 per cent of respondents to the Ipsos poll said they’d like to see measures that will cool the housing market in the federal budget, while 12 per cent indicated that funding to build new homes was a priority.

Only five per cent of respondents said an increase in the GST rebate for homebuyers was a priority, though that rose to 10 per cent of gen Z respondents (born between 1997 and 2005).

Other priorities, such as increasing defence spending and accelerating the transition to clean energy, ranked lower on Canadians’ lists:

• Investing in Canada’s ​Armed Forces and defence​ (11 per cent)
• To support the transition to greener energy​ (10 per cent)
• Incentives to lower their carbon footprint​ (nine per cent)
• Help businesses struggling with the pandemic impact (eight per cent)
• Freeze hiring in the federal public service (six per cent)

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between March 15 and 18, 2024, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18-plus was interviewed. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

Access to emergency healthcare services in Halifax was dealt another blow on Thursday as the city’s QEII infirmary site was without running water or heat following a second water main break at the hospital in 24 hours.

One patient with accessibility needs said he was advised to leave due to the fact he wasn’t able to access the hospital’s washroom facilities.

“I have no circulation in my legs. I can’t walk,” said David Macdonald, who said he had recently undergone surgery.

“The health department came in and they moved everyone they could move out of the hospital. Some people live far away, they live five or six hours from here. How can they get home?”

John Gillis, communications chief at Nova Scotia Health, said the second water main break occurred early on Thursday morning while crews were attending to the original break.

“Both water main breaks were in the same pipe. One break occurred, was repaired, and unfortunately, afterward, another break occurred in the same section,” he said during a media availability on Thursday.

Gillis added the water main breaks resulted in the loss of water and steam for the entire Halifax Infirmary campus including both the Veterans Memorial and Abbie J. Lane buildings.

He said some surgeries at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax and the Dartmouth General Hospital are being rescheduled to accommodate urgent cases that would normally be done at the Halifax Infirmary.

“It’s not possible to proceed with dialysis and difficult to proceed with surgery under these conditions,” he said, noting a decision to move patients hasn’t been made “at this point.”

“It’s cooler in the building than we want it to be on a day like this and access to bathrooms is difficult.”

Gillis said crews have been forced to transport water, washing stations, and portable toilets into the hospital as a temporary measure. He said he isn’t aware of the current number of patients who remain inside the building at the time but said inpatient care is ongoing.

“The emergency department is open so if you have an emergency, absolutely come here,” he said, adding that he otherwise recommends individuals choose a pharmacy, virtual care, or a separate emergency department location until the issue is resolved at the Halifax infirmary.

On the bright side, he said boilers are operating again and therefore heat will be restored to the buildings on Thursday afternoon.

“The restoration of full water pressure to be able to run water, toilets, and fire suppression … we still don’t have an estimation,” he continued.

Gillis said the water main break had no relation to the ongoing construction of the infirmary’s expansion project.

“It was a pipe inside a building here,” he said.

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When asked how patients were being treated that choose to stay inside the hospital, Gillis said he’s unaware of any instances of people being asked to leave.

“Because we have limited access to washroom facilities, we’re trying to reduce visitors to patients. If people want to come and bring extra clothes, blankets for patients, that’s ok,” he said.

Gillis added that an emergency response team is holding discussions throughout the day and will determine if the infirmary can return to normal conditions tomorrow.

In a Wednesday release, Nova Scotia Health said a water main break had forced the cancellation of some elective surgeries and has the hospital asking patients “without emergency concerns” to visit another ER.

“There is currently no running water for flushing toilets or drinking. Hand sanitizer is available and we are working to bring in drinking water and portable hand-washing stations/washrooms to as soon as possible,” the release stated.

All elective and non-urgent surgeries and procedures were then cancelled and rescheduled.

— with files from Vanessa Wright and the Canadian Press