When Justin Trudeau ascended to Canada’s premiership in 2015, he captivated Canadians with an inspiring promise: to champion the middle class and enhance their quality of life. People like Shivaan Burke, a resident of Peterborough, Ontario, believed in that vision so deeply that she volunteered for the local Liberal representative who joined Trudeau’s major political wave. But nearly a decade later, the optimism that propelled Trudeau to power has evaporated for many, replaced by financial concerns and rising disillusionment. As Trudeau prepares to leave office amidst growing public dissatisfaction, his legacy is a sobering reflection of promises left unfulfilled and economic storms that swept across the country.
For Burke, who works on contract for her local government, the economic challenges of the past decade loom large in her daily life. Like millions of Canadians, she feels the weight of food costs that seemingly spiral upward each time she visits the grocery store. “The groceries are just crazy, crazy—but I just accept it,” remarks Alex Bierk, an artist and Peterborough City Council member, echoing a sentiment felt nationwide. Items like pine nuts, which once cost Burke around ten Canadian dollars at Costco, have tripled in price while wages remain stagnant. Financial strain is no longer an anomaly; it’s the norm.
Peterborough, a once-affordable refuge for individuals fleeing Toronto’s soaring real estate market, has experienced a dramatic spike in housing prices, part of a broader trend across Canada. Between 2015 and today, average house prices rose by a staggering 132% in Peterborough, outpacing wage growth by a significant margin. Nationwide, average incomes grew by only 8% between 2016 and 2022, making it harder for young families and working adults to dream of homeownership. Dan Twomey, a residential homeowner in Peterborough, illustrates the dilemma starkly. He purchased his three-bedroom home a quarter of a century ago for 125,000 Canadian dollars, a relatively moderate investment. Today, that same home could sell for around 750,000 dollars—a price tag that feels outlandish even to him. “This house isn’t worth that,” he says, but relocating would offer little relief as he’d face similar costs elsewhere.
When Trudeau first visited Peterborough in 2017, he spoke at a town hall, affirming passionately that “the government should be helping you, not harming you.” And yet, for many residents, help has been hard to find. The exponential rise in housing prices reflects both long-term systemic issues and more recent policy missteps. Though the Prime Minister introduced measures such as immigration expansion to boost the workforce and economy, many feel the execution lacked necessary foresight. The admission of more than two million migrants within two years added strain to an already tightened housing market. Even Trudeau himself has recently acknowledged that these immigration levels were excessive given Canada’s infrastructure and housing deficit.
Meanwhile, Canada’s cost of living crisis has extended beyond housing. An annual report on food costs estimates that a typical family of four spent 16,300 Canadian dollars on groceries last year—a 29% jump since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which triggered global price hikes. Rising costs compound feelings of economic vulnerability, as illustrated by a survey conducted by Royal Bank of Canada. The survey revealed that 55% of respondents feel “financially paralyzed” by inflation. For Burke, the growing disparity between corporate profits in industries like grocery retail and her own purchasing power is disheartening. “We are seeing an increase in wealth disparity between the richest, most powerful people in this country and the rest of us,” she laments.
Such challenges have become fertile ground for Trudeau’s political opposition. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has sharpened his critiques of Trudeau’s approach, branding inflation as “Justinflation” and faulting the Liberal government for economic hardships. Recent polls reflect Canadians’ dissatisfaction, with Trudeau’s Liberal Party trailing the Conservatives by at least 20 percentage points as federal elections approach. Perhaps indicative of the country’s political mood is the steep nosedive in Trudeau’s approval ratings: in 2016, shortly after he took office, a stunning 73% of Canadians approved of his leadership; today, only 19% feel the same.
Peterborough, often considered a microcosm of Canadian consumer habits, highlights how deeply these issues resonate. This mid-sized city of approximately 130,000 people has faced a cascade of economic disruptions that mirror the nation’s troubles. General Electric, once the largest employer in town and a cornerstone of the community, shuttered its operations in 2018 after 126 years, leaving a void that many small businesses and local economic initiatives now attempt to fill. While some entrepreneurs, like Jim Reedyk, owner of Chumleighs—a used media store—remain resilient, they cannot ignore the pressures of the times. “I was enthusiastic about Trudeau,” says Reedyk, who regularly voted Liberal under his leadership. But financial anxieties have shaken his faith in the government’s capacity to create meaningful change. “It was time for him to go,” he concludes.
For civic leaders like Bierk, these broader economic dynamics have spurred visible crises, including homelessness. Tent encampments have become more prominent in Peterborough as housing affordability worsens. Efforts to replace makeshift shelters with small modular housing and provide social support have only partly succeeded, constrained by inconsistent funding from provincial channels. He calls for the government to prioritize subsidized housing initiatives, a sentiment that underscores the urgency of Peterborough’s struggles—struggles also mirrored in cities across Canada.
Despite Trudeau’s efforts to address inflation, which is down from its peak of 8% in 2022 to around 2% today, food prices remain persistently high. And new challenges loom: a recently announced plan by former President Trump to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian exports beginning next February could severely damage the national economy, exacerbating unemployment and driving prices higher as costs filter down to consumers.
As Trudeau’s time in office winds down, his tenure tells the story of a leader whose early momentum collided with the struggles of modern governance. His ambition to help the middle class sparked inspiration, but the reality of global economic shifts, domestic policy decisions, and unforeseen crises like a pandemic reshaped that dream into a complicated, often frustrating experience for many voters. Trudeau’s resignation, set for March after his Liberal Party selects a new leader, may bring an end to one chapter, but the challenges facing Canada—soaring living costs, economic disparity, and housing insecurity—will remain at the forefront of public discourse.
For Canadians like Burke, Twomey, and Bierk, Trudeau’s exit marks not just the closing of a political era but also a chance to reassess how the country confronts its most pressing problems. Trudeau’s legacy is intertwined with these struggles: a reminder of both the promise of progress and the realities that can hold it back. Will his successor navigate the choppy waters more effectively? That remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: for Canada’s middle class, the journey toward relief feels far from over.
