CALGARY — A new report by insolvency firm MNP Ltd. suggests Canadians are expecting their household finances will come under pressure this year.
The report says 71 per cent anticipate higher living costs heading into the new year, while 59 per cent anticipate a worsening economy and 52 per cent see job market weakness coming.
MNP president Grant Bazian says Canadians expect most aspects of daily life to worsen rather than improve in 2026.
Despite the pessimism, MNP’s consumer debt index, which measures Canadians’ attitudes toward their debt and gauges their ability to pay their bills and manage expenses, slightly improved for the quarter by one point to 87 points.
MNP says the increase bucked the seasonal trend of deteriorating debt sentiment and marked the first time since its inception that the index has improved in December.
The report says 41 per cent of respondents said they are within $200 of not being able to pay their bills each month, an improvement of seven percentage points from last quarter and the lowest level measured in the post-pandemic period.
The data from an online poll, which sampled 2,001 Canadians aged 18 years and over, was compiled by Ipsos on behalf of MNP between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1, 2025. The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2026.
The Canadian Press
