How satisfied are you with things in Canada? Poll reveals a chasm between Alberta, Quebec

A survey of Canadian satisfaction on the direction the country is headed found the greatest divide is between Quebec and Alberta.John Mahoney/Postmedia; Gavin Young/Postmedia

A survey arises that undoubtedly reveals an abyss between Alberta and Quebec. And how satisfied you are with the way things are going in Canada depends a lot on where you live, a new survey reveals.

It should be noted that, although most Canadians are satisfied with the direction of the country, there is a very different feeling in the Prairies, since it is considered that their people feel great dismay at the state of things, according to a new Angus Reid Institute survey.

Around 54 percent of the inhabitants of Manitoba are satisfied with the country’s leadership this year, which is a decrease of 14 percentage points compared to 2016.

The regional disparity in the country almost coincides with a big difference in how men and women feel about the direction of the country. Across Canada, 46 percent of men say they are not happy with the way things are going compared to 32 percent of women. There is relatively little difference between the age groups.

Resentment suggestion

The survey suggests that Alberta is the province that most wants to separate from Canada, not Quebec. Likewise, the deep resentment in Alberta is a consequence of the recent economic recession and the long and fragile process of construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The project would take more Albertan oil to the west coast, where it could get a better price.

Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney recently introduced a “fair treatment panel,” which is examining the various ways in which Albertans think the Confederacy is not balanced against it.

Even so, the survey also found that people across the country are much more worried about the future of their province. When asked if they are optimistic or pessimistic about the future of their province, respondents across the country are divided almost evenly (53% optimistic versus 47% pessimistic).

The largest division is between Alberta and Quebec. Seventy-seven percent of people in Alberta feel pessimistic, while 73 percent of people in Quebec feel optimistic. Saskatchewan and the Atlantic also saw a thin majority of people feeling pessimistic. A bright point in the survey results is that Canadians are much more optimistic about their own lives than about the country in general. Seventy-five percent of Canadians say they are optimistic about their own future. In Alberta, where less than 30 percent of respondents are optimistic about the country, 58 percent remain optimistic about their own situation.

A person’s optimism about their own situation tends to increase with income levels, but a large majority of households with the lowest income remain optimistic. 68% of Canadians who earn less than $ 25,000 per year are optimistic, compared to more than 80% of Canadians who earn more than $ 100,000 per year.

Source: Stuart Thomson | National Post