In Canada, many have internalized that “here it’s different”. And it is. As is every country. But when you share an 8,890 km with a superpower, the world’s longest international border, some perceptions and practices are bound to permeate the border. This is exactly what a recent Abacus Data survey on Precarity Mindset signals.
Majorities in both countries believe government will not protect people from major economic shocks, while more than half say the economic and political system is rigged against ordinary people – Abacus Data
The survey finds that 57% of Canadians believe the system is rigged against them, topping the 53% of Americans who feel the same way. And in both countries, 56% don’t expect their respective governments to protect them from economic shocks, with 39% seeing AI and automation as threats to their livelihood.
Precarity at scale
Abacus Data surveyed 1,500 Canadians and as many Americans from June 9 to 11 and found that beyond simple pessimism or financial hardship, it is the feeling of precarity that prevails in both countries.
This is how Abacus Data defines precarity:
Precarity is the feeling that the ground underneath people’s lives has become unstable.
In numbers, this is what it looks like:
- 67% of Canadians say making long-term plans feels difficult: this is more than 10 percentage points above the 55% estimate in the U.S.
- 64% feel financially insecure due to economic changes vs. 55% of Americans
- 61% feel they won’t be able to achieve the kind of stability their parents enjoyed because of housing, much higher than in the U.S. (48% ).
Precarity correlates with division
This state of mind makes countries prone to division. The correlation between perceived unfairness and populism (“us vs. a corrupt elite” story) has indeed been documented over time:
- A 2025 study using International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data and survey experiments in Denmark, Germany, and Italy finds that perceived inequality causally increases populist attitudes.
- Van den Bos’s 2020 review in Annual Review of Psychology synthesizes the evidence that perceived group deprivation, symbols of injustice, and experiences of unfair treatment drive Muslim, right-wing, and left-wing radicalization alike.
- A 2019 study on economic inequality and populism adds that inequality reduces trust and cohesion, amplifies perceived intergroup threat, and consolidates nationalist identities that populist leaders then harness to blame out-groups.
Geopolitics should not be left siloed in government affairs
This is the environment that governments and businesses operate in. And leaving the understanding of this context to public and government affairs alone increases the risk of disconnect in all other siloed segments of the business, including communications. The reason is that geopolitics have been having an increasingly direct impact on business decisions.
The Bank of Canada’s latest Business Outlook Survey published July 6 illustrates the point:
Sales outlooks have softened slightly, reflecting a slowdown in business and consumer spending associated with rising fuel-related costs and heightened geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East. – Bank of Canada’s Q2 Business Outlook Survey.
Consumers hold back
On the consumer and employee front, rising costs of living – partly due to geopolitics – are impacting buying and saving decisions.
The Bank of Canada Q2 Survey of Consumer Expectations – the BOS sister survey – illustrates the direct geopolitics impact on consumers:
Concerns about high prices and economic uncertainty are still holding back consumer spending plans. Spending expectations are weaker among households that believe the war in the Middle East will significantly raise inflation. Bank of Canada Survey of Consumer Expectations
Employees shift priorities
Consumers are also employees. In Canada, Benefits Canada 2026 Employee Savings Survey published in April 2026 found that financial priorities continue to shift amid uncertainty and high cost of living. Perhaps even more telling for the future, the report cites a “recalibration” in employees’ expectations. “This year saw a significant drop in the amount plan members felt they need to have saved by the time they retire — from around $1.4 million in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to $976,835 this year.”
The recalibration story is also happening in the U.S. The 2026 NFP U.S. Retirement Trend Report shows that 46% of employees are “deprioritizing retirement savings or unable to save at all“.
Today, dollars intended for retirement are competing directly with basic living expenses like housing, transportation and food. NFP
And according to Schroders’ 2026 US Retirement Survey, 33% of employees participating in a work retirement plan have more credit card debt than retirement savings:
69% of plan participants believe rising healthcare, utility, insurance, and housing costs have put retirement out of reach for their generation. Schroders
All these surveys are saying that employees’ decisions are directly impacted by geopolitics.
Investors watch how businesses handle geopolitics
Investors, another key stakeholders for businesses, are also expressing the importance of how businesses handle their geopolitical risk and watching whether their long-term value story makes sense.
A recently published McKinsey survey of investors found that “A majority of respondents say geopolitics will be a leading influence on their investment decisions in 2026.”.
As it turns out, ahead of inflation and tariffs, investors are most concerned that the geopolitical risk is underpriced by markets.
Here is the implications for leaders:
Perceptions of mispricing have practical implications for corporate leaders. Investors who believe a risk is underpriced are acutely sensitive to companies’ exposure. They are likely to feel more positively about management teams that articulate their approaches to tariff pass-through mechanics, supply-chain resilience, and geographic-revenue concentration. McKinsey
Geopolitics are not just a public affairs issue
The point is: geopolitics are a direct business consideration that permeates decisions across the entire organization, more directly than ever before. Yet organizations, private or public, continue to silo different communications specialties. It was true 10 years ago and with AI, especially agentic AI, bringing in information from all corners of an organization, it is even more true today.
AI is enabling the implementation of ecosystems but mindsets remain stuck in linear thinking and organizations. Now is the time to revisit the interactions between disciplines and functions because the value for firms comes from the connections while it leaks through silos.
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