VANCOUVER, BC November 2, 2021 — Most of us have a consistent and clear picture of ‘the American Dream,’ i.e. coming to America with $20 in your pocket and becoming a millionaire, but what exactly is ‘the Canadian Dream?’ Mogo Inc., a digital payments and financial technology company, commissioned a study (conducted among members of the online Angus Reid Forum) to help Canadians define and take a modern pulse check on ‘the Dream’ for Canadians in 2021.

PLEASE ATTRIBUTE THIS AS A STUDY BY MOGO INC. IN ALL MEDIA MENTIONS.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1) Defining ‘The Canadian Dream’

a) What do Canadians (really) dream about? Financial and personal freedom
Asked what they think the most important aspect of the Canadian Dream is to them, the number one choice for Canadians was ‘financial security’ (33%), in second place was ‘freedom to follow personal dreams’ (24%), followed by buying a home (11%), living without discrimination (11%) and having a family (6%)

b) Environmental protection is pivotal
Nationally, 21% of all Canadians selected ‘environmental protection’ as part of their Canadian Dream (in the top three choices). In the top three choices provincially, environmental protection was most important to British Columbians (28%).

2) Most Canadians think they can achieve their dreams (but aren’t so sure about the rest of us)

A surprisingly equal number of Canadians (65%) optimistically believe that they CAN achieve their personal Canadian Dream vs. a pessimistic number of Canadians (65%) who think most Canadians CAN’T achieve their Canadian dreams.

Ontario is the most pessimistic province with 71% saying they don’t think most Canadians can achieve their Canadian Dream.

Alberta and the Atlantic provinces are most optimistic, with 43% and 41%, respectively, saying the Canadian Dream is achievable for most Canadians.

“Based on our survey, there’s clearly a strong connection between financial health, planet health and the Canadian dream,” said David Feller, Mogo’s CEO. “The great news is that the 3 are clearly related, as the less we spend, the more we have to put towards wealth building, and the lower our carbon footprint is. This survey also strongly suggests that consumers will gravitate towards companies and services that help them achieve this.”

3) Canadians’ future concerns are (mostly) environmental

Asked to select their top concerns about Canada’s future, Canadians number one response was ‘the Economy (73%),’ and number-two response was climate change (66%), followed by protecting our oceans and water supply (64%), COVID or future pandemics (59%), social justice (52%), pollution (50%), wildfires (49%), deforestation (43%), cyber security (42%) and Oil Drilling (33%).

Younger Canadians aged 18-34 (an age group that includes both Generation Z and
younger Millennials) are most concerned about many future environmental issues

58% worry about wildfires vs. 45% of 35-54 year olds and 47% of 55+ Canadians.
57% are concerned with pollution vs. 47% of 35-54 year olds and 48% of Canadians 55+.
52% say deforestation concerns them vs. only 38% of 35-54 year olds and 41% of 55+ Canadians.

44% said oil drilling concerns them vs. 29% of 35-54 year olds and 27% of 55+ Canadians.

Younger Canadians would like to do more (more)

41% of younger Canadians (18-34) said they would like to do more to protect Canada’s future, vs. 34% of those 35+.

87% say that it's important to them to buy from environmentally responsible companies.

Women are more likely to be worried about Canada’s environmental future
Canadian women (73%) are much more likely to be concerned about climate change than men (58%).

And are more likely to be concerned about environmental issues in general:
• Protecting oceans and water supply: 71% vs. 58% of men
• Wildfires: 56% vs. 43% of men
• Deforestation: 49% vs. 37% of men

4) Lower-income Canadians are less optimistic about the Canadian Dream

Seven-in-ten (72%) Canadians with an annual household income (HHI) of at least $50k believe they can achieve the Canadian Dream, compared to just 43% of those with annual household incomes below $50k.

5) What Canadians want

Asked what is most important to them personally, 33% of Canadians said, ‘providing for their loved ones,’ followed by ‘enjoying life right now’ (29%), ‘protecting the environment’ (13%) and ‘building wealth’ (11%).

6) How Canadians (really) see other Canadians

Asked what they think is most important to most other Canadians, 76% of Canadians optimistically said, ‘providing for loved ones,’ followed by buying a home (58%), building wealth (55%), enjoying life right now (44%) and protecting the environment (39%.)

Residents of Saskatchewan (89%) and Atlantic Canada (85%) were most likely to believe Canadians generally value providing for loved ones, although respondents in every region of the country were more likely to choose this value over every other option provided.

7) Are Canadians really putting their money where their (green) is?

76% of Canadians say they are doing something to protect Canada’s future, only 14% admit that they are not and 10% say they don’t know.’

85% of Canadians say that buying from environmentally responsible companies is important to them. 36% say it’s very important and 49% say it’s somewhat important.

BUT …

54% of Canadians said that they ‘don’t know’ how many environmentally responsible companies they made a purchase from in the past month.

Additionally, 37% of Canadians say that they would NOT pay more for a product from an environmentally friendly company.

Women are more likely to say they are willing to pay more for environmentally responsible retail: 68% of women vs. 58% of men. More women also say that buying from responsible retail is ‘very important’: 41% of women vs. 30% of men.

Younger Canadians are more willing to pay for environmentally responsible retail

Three-in-four Canadians aged 18-34 (74%) said they are willing to pay more for responsible retail, vs. 63% of Canadians aged 35-54 and 56% of Canadians aged 55+.

Most Canadians are willing to pay for responsible retail (even lower income households)

More than half of Canadians with an annual household income of less than $50K (58%) said they would be willing to pay more for environmentally responsible products.

Canadians with higher household incomes are even more likely to buy responsible retail

Two-thirds (67%) of Canadians with annual household incomes of at least $50,000 say they would pay more for responsible retail.

PLEASE ATTRIBUTE THIS AS A STUDY BY MOGO INC. IN ALL MEDIA MENTIONS.

About the Survey

These are the findings of a study/survey conducted by Mogo Inc. from September 10-14, 2021 with a sample of 1,000 online Canadians, outside Quebec who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The survey was conducted in English only.

About Angus Reid Forum surveys:

The precision of Angus Reid Forum online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error.

About the Angus Reid Forum:

The Angus Reid Forum is Canada’s most well-known and trusted online public opinion community consisting of engaged residents across the country who answer surveys on topical issues that matter to all Canadians.

About Mogo

Mogo is empowering its more than one million members with simple digital solutions to do money like you mean it. Through the free Mogo app, consumers can access a digital spending account with Mogo Visa* Platinum Prepaid Card, the only card of its kind in Canada. The MogoCard makes it easy to enjoy spending control while doing good for the planet by planting a tree for every purchase. The Mogo app also enables you to easily buy and sell bitcoin, get free monthly credit score monitoring and ID fraud protection, and access personal loans. Mogo’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Carta Worldwide, also offers a digital payments platform that powers the next-generation card programs from innovative fintech companies in Europe, North America and APAC, while Mogo’s wholly-owned subsidiary Moka is bringing automated, fully-managed flat-fee investing to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. To learn more, please visit mogo.ca, download the mobile app (iOS or Android) or order the card here.

Media Contact:

Patrick McCaully
[email protected]