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Affordability and health care topped the list of top concerns for Canadians in 2025, while decline in Canadian-American relations dominated the biggest news stories of the year for Canadians, according to a new poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Global News.
“Affordability was the number one issue Canadians focused on the most last year, by a large majority,” Ipsos Global Executive Director of Public Affairs Darrell Bricker told Global in an interview, followed closely by health care, “and not because Canadians are happy about it,” he said.
Forty-one percent of those surveyed said affordability and cost of living were the most important issues in Canada, followed by health care at 38 percent.
The economy (28 percent) and housing (27 percent) followed as the next most important issues, highlighting what Bricker described as ongoing concerns about household finances and access to basic services.
Bricker said the results show that affordability and housing pressures are being felt most by younger Canadians.
The poll points to a closely divided political landscape, with liberals and conservatives each seen as strongest on five of the 10 most important issues. Conservatives had a slight edge on affordability issues, while liberals were more favorable on health care and the economy.
“Usually what you find is the party that wins the election is the one that is perceived to be doing the best job on the most important issue,” Bricker said. “Interestingly, this was not the case in the last election. The issue of affordability was at the top of the list and the Conservatives led on that, but the Liberals won in the end.”
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While affordability topped the list, Bricker said the Liberals benefited from leadership in managing relations with the United States — an issue where they remain far ahead of the Conservatives. Canada’s relationship with its southern neighbor, he said, continues to trump even accessibility concerns for many voters.
“They still have a 39-point lead in terms of who can best deal with that issue … The Liberals have a huge, huge lead (there).”
After affordability and cost of living, health care and the economy in the top three, the other top issues for Canadians were housing, immigration, Canada’s relationship with the US, interest rates and inflation, taxes, unemployment/jobs, and crime and violence coming in last.
Tensions between Canada and the US, global conflicts shaped how Canadians saw the biggest stories of the year
The relationship between Canada and the US also dominated Canadians’ assessment of the biggest international news of the year.
Said more than half – 56 percent – of the respondents US President Donald Trump’s tariffs were the top story globally, followed by one-third that pointed to Trump’s return to the White House. Conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza ranked third and fourth, respectively.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump hold a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, Tuesday, October 7, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Bricker said Canadians say they see those stories as deeply relatable.
“We’re seeing (mainstream news) very much dominated by things that Donald Trump has touched on,” Bricker said, adding that many of the stories Canadians are watching involve actions “being done to Canada, or seen being done by Donald Trump and his administration.”
“So (Trump) is integrated into everything Canadians are watching right now.”
Ipsos also found growing pessimism about global conflicts. Canadians closely monitor wars abroad, Bricker said, “but they don’t view it with any degree of optimism.”
The survey found that the remaining top international news stories for Canadians in 2025 were the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, the development of the Epstein dossier, the rise of artificial intelligence technologies, the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, global migration and immigration pressures and Elon Musk’s activities within the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As for the domestic stories of the year, 42 per cent of respondents said the year 2025 was most defined by worsening Canada-US relations, narrowly outpacing coverage of the rising cost of living at 41 per cent. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s choice took third place with 33 percent.
Other major domestic stories were the Canada Post strike, Justin Trudeau’s resignation as Prime Minister, the Toronto Blue Jays advancing to the World Cup, the homeless crisis, immigration policy changes, the Air Canada strike, and last but not least, the bankruptcy and permanent closure of Hudson’s Bay.
Both surveys were conducted online between December 8 and 15 among 1,502 Canadians aged 18 and over. The results are weighted to reflect the national population and are considered accurate within a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
