Budget 2026
Housing is the one spending all three major national party voters want
Before the federal budget, a look at what Liberal, Conservative and NDP voters said they wanted more money spent on. Housing is the only item with a majority in all three camps.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tables Budget 2026 today. Every line in it is a choice about where federal money goes, and voters have already said where they want it to go.
During the 2025 election campaign, the Canadian Election Study asked thousands of Canadians whether Ottawa should spend more, less or about the same on a range of programs, from housing to defence. Grouping those answers by how people voted shows a short list of shared priorities and a longer list of fights.
Housing: the only program all three camps back
Three in four voters (74 %) wanted more spent on affordable housing. That held across party lines: 87 % of NDP voters, 79 % of Liberals and 64 % of Conservatives. No other program cleared half in all three groups. Housing supply is still the pressure point: CMHC's latest starts data shows September's pace 11.4% below a year earlier.
Defence: Liberals side with Conservatives
Most Conservative (66 %) and Liberal (62 %) voters wanted more spent on defence. NDP voters fell short of half, at 47 %, though that was still their most common answer.
Education and the environment: Liberals side with the NDP
Education drew majorities among NDP (72 %) and Liberal (62 %) voters. Conservatives missed by a hair: 49.6 % wanted more, 42 % the same.
The environment is the sharpest divide in the survey. Most NDP voters (58 %) and about half of Liberal voters (51 %) wanted more spent. Among Conservative voters, only 18 % did, and 41 % wanted less.
Where party priorities diverge
Crime and justice belongs to Conservative voters: 64 % wanted more, against 42 % of Liberals and 35 % of New Democrats.
National childcare belongs to the NDP: 58 % of its voters wanted more, compared with 43 % of Liberals and 28 % of Conservatives.
Liberal voters have no program to themselves. Every item a majority of them backed is shared with another party's voters. Conservative and NDP voters share nothing beyond housing.
Indigenous reconciliation had no majority anywhere. The NDP came closest at 42 %. Among Conservative voters, 53 % wanted less.
Health care was not among the programs asked about in 2025.
When the budget lands today, housing is the one spending priority with majority support among voters of all three major national parties. On defence, education, childcare and the environment, the camps split. Any government that wants a budget line all three can cheer has exactly one to choose from.
