When Justin Trudeau became Canadian Prime Minister in 2015, his relentless promise to improve the life of the middle class resonated so strongly with Shivaan Burke that she went to work for the local liberal deputy, who was elected with Mr. Trudeau .
But a decade later, when Mr. Trudeau is preparing to leave his duties in the middle of the dissatisfaction of the deep voters, Ms. Burke said that little of what he promised made his way in the daily life of his family to Peterborough, Ontario, a factory town about 80 miles northeast of Toronto.
Like many Canadians, Ms. Burke has become painfully aware of the amount of her budget consumed by trying to fill her grocery cart.
And while Peterborough was a place where Toronto people came to escape the prices of high real estate, housing costs have climbed it in recent years, just as they have done in many regions of the country.
Ms. Burke, a contractual worker from the local government, is one of the many Canadians in the middle class who helped to propel Mr. Trudeau in power, but who have become increasingly frustrated by a living cost and constantly high income and who failed to follow.
The latest version of a regular survey for the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest financial institution in the country, revealed that 55% of respondents “feel financially paralyzed due to the increase in costs”.
With the national elections expected in the spring, Mr. Trudeau’s liberal party drags the conservative party at least 20 percentage points, according to recent polls. Pierre Poilievre, the conservative chief, relentlessly attacked Mr. Trudeau on inflation, calling him “Justinflation”.
The gains for the conservatives came to communities like Peterborough who once supported Mr. Trudeau but have now turned against him because of economic worries.
The result was a precipitated fall for Mr. Trudeau, who announced this month that he would resign as chief of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister after his party selected his successor on March 9.
About a year after taking power, 73% of Canadians Approved from his management, an exceptionally high figure for any Canadian politician. An investigation carried out this month shortly after Mr. Trudeau said he was going out 19% Respondents considered it favorably.
Peterborough was once known as “electric city” For its massive electric factory complex, which was widely closed in 2018 after 126 years of operation. Concerns about the cost of food and housing often dominate conversations here and in the rest of Canada.
During a visit to Peterborough in 2017, Mr. Trudeau told a town hall that “the government should help you, do not harm you.”
But during his mandate, many Canadians only felt more financially.
Since Mr. Trudeau took office in 2015, the average prices of housing increased by 56%, with a higher increase in large cities like Toronto and Vancouver, with undulating effects in their surrounding suburbs. Houses in Peterborough have jumped 132% since 2015.
An annual estimate compiled by researchers and food economists in four universities calculated that last year, a Four -year Canadian family Spending Canadian dollars, around $ 11,300, at the grocery store. This represents about 29% more than before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, which sparked price increases worldwide.
“The grocery stores are simply crazy, crazy – but I just accept it”, Alex Bierk, artist And member of the municipal council of Peterborough, said in his studio in an office building in the city center. “I feel powerless on this subject.”
He bought bags of pine at Costco for about $ 10 Canadian dollars. “Now I see them and it’s a smaller version of the same bag and it’s something like 30 dollars.”
Income did not follow the pace. Between 2016 and 2022, according to the most recent data The average individual income available in Canada increased by only 8%to 57,100 Canadian dollars. This has also led to work conflicts, including closings from the two main railways from Canada and the post office.
Burke said that she was disappointed by Mr. Trudeau’s response to middle -class struggles.
“I do not know how someone, in particular any politician, can avoid drawing a line between the increase in the price of the grocery store and the increase in profits held by grocers,” She declared. “We see an increase in the disparity of wealth between the wealthiest and most powerful people in this country and the rest of us.”
This feeling has been reflected in conversations in Peterborough, a city of around 130,000, which is frequently used to test new products because marketing research companies think that the purchasing habits of residents reflect those of Canadian consumers in general.
On the southern side of Peterborough, an area dominated by modest bungalows built for factory workers, Dan Twomey, 60, said that he desperate the rents that his three daughters paid and their chances of becoming owners.
Mr. Twomey, who works for a chimney store, said he and his wife bought their modest three -bedroom houses 25 years ago for 125,000 Canadian dollars. Before the increase in interest rates, market cooling, he said that he had offered around $ 750,000.
“This house is not worth that,” he said. In addition, to stay in Peterborough, he would probably need to spend the same amount for a new house, perhaps smaller.
While the low interest rates and the pandemic, he said, have contributed to the rise in housing prices, Mr. Twomey also said that he thought that the expansion of immigration by Mr. Trudeau – which has seen more than two million migrants arrive in two years And that the Prime Minister recognizes now went too far – was a major factor.
“We need immigration, we are a fairly small country,” he said. “But we didn’t need this level.”
While the Trudeau government has managed to reduce inflation to around 2% compared to an 8% summit in 2022, food prices remain high.
And Canada’s economic situation could soon get worse. President Trump said he was planning to impose 25% of Canada export prices on February 1. Such a general decision could ravage the economy of Canada, lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses and push even higher prices as companies have passed customers’ costs.
Mr. Bierk, the city councilor of Peterborough, said that he was particularly frustrated by another demonstration of the country’s housing crisis: the growing number of homeless, in particular those who live in tent camps.
Mr. Bierk worked with the city’s social housing agency to replace a tent camp in the city center with 50 small modular houses placed around the toilets and common catering areas with support workers. But the funds for 16 additional units, which must go through the provincial government, remain in the limbo.
“The government,” he said, was to make subsidized accommodation a priority “because each city in the country has a problem with the camps. And the problem continues to get worse as people are pushed to roaming the high cost of living. »»
Jim Reedyk, the owner of Chumleighs, a used DVD, a video game, a CD and a record store on the main street of Peterborough, said that the rise in food prices had prompted it to browse advertisements grocery store for business for the first time in his life. He also decided to offer local university students who enter shop advice on cheaper grocery options, such as reduction stores.
He was once enthusiastic about Mr. Trudeau and what he could do for the country, but said that he now feels disappointed by his performance.
“I am not saying that he did not work hard and was not devoted to people for many years,” said Reedyk. “I voted for the liberals each time.”
But government policies, he added, no longer work to help enough Canadians. “It was time for him to leave,” said Reedyk.
