Nearly 60% of Canadians do not have confidence in Trudeau to prevent economic crisis: Poll

Nearly 60 per cent of Canadians do not have confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s abilities to prevent a deepening economic crisis amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, an Angus Reid poll revealed.

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"Many Canadians express doubt about Trudeau’s ability to prevent worsening economic conditions. Asked how much confidence they have in Trudeau to prevent a deepening economic crisis, just over one-in-three (36 per cent) say that they feel confident with him in charge, while 58 per cent are not confident," Angus Reid said on Thursday.

The poll, however, found that a slight majority of Canadians - 52 per cent - entrust Trudeau to prevent more COVID-19-related fatalities.

Besides, Canadians are split regarding the worsening economic conditions versus health risks as 51 per cent of respondents said that they are concerned about the health risks amid the ongoing pandemic, while 49 per cent are vexed about the state of the economy in the coming months.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has had a profound effect on the Canadian economy with nearly a quarter of the labour force employed in February having had their income streams substantially affected and the unemployment rate rising to 13 per cent, according to the federal statistics agency.

Additionally, Statistics Canada announced earlier this week that the Canadian economy contracted by 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 in their Gross Domestic Product, Income and Expenditure First Quarter Report.