Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
A new poll finds one-third of Canadian households say their financial situation has worsened over the last year.
According to a Leger poll commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies, 34 per cent of Canadian households say they're financially worse off compared with a year ago.
The majority of respondents, 58 per cent, said their financial situation is about the same as it was a year ago.
Meanwhile, nine per cent report their financial situation has improved.
Association for Canadian Studies president Jack Jedwab said the most striking finding in the survey is the unequal challenges Canadians have faced over the last year, with those in lower income brackets feeling the largest pinch.
Among Canadian households earning less than $40,000, 42 per cent reported their financial situation has worsened. That's in comparison with 25 per cent of households earning $100,000 or more.
"People ... in lower income brackets are finding the pinch particularly difficult in terms of the effects of the inflation and higher interest rates and so forth," Jedwab said.
High inflation and rising interest rates have been squeezing Canadians' finances over the last year. To clamp down on rapidly rising prices, the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates aggressively with eight straight increases since March.
The survey also found Quebecers were the least likely to report their financial situation has worsened, while respondents in British Columbia were the most likely to report it stayed the same.
Jedwab said diversity in responses across the country may have to do with the housing market and differences in housing prices.
Renters were also more likely than homeowners to report their financial situation has worsened.
The online survey was completed by 1,554 Canadians between Jan. 23 and 25 and cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2023.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
A group of demonstrators were kicked out of the legislature after a second NDP motion calling for unanimous consent to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh failed to pass.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.