Quebec is the least popular province in Confederation, according to new polling from the Angus Reid Institute.
The survey, part of a four-part series on western Canadian identity, found that, on average, just five per cent of Canadians outside Quebec believe that Quebec is close with or friendly towards their own province; what’s more, 53 per cent believe that la belle province takes more from Confederation than it gives. And, 21 per cent of Quebecers feel that way about their own province, too.
“The other big part of the story is the resentment of Alberta, which is also especially significant in terms of Albertans feeling not particularly close to any province other than Saskatchewan,” said Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute. “There is a perception in the rest of Canada, outside of Quebec, that Quebecers are not close, are not interested, are not engaged, with the rest of the country.”
The hostility is mostly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, unsurprising, given Premier François Legault’s comments in December that there’s “no social acceptance for a pipeline that would pass through Quebec territory.” Just one per cent of Albertans and two per cent of Saskatchewanians feel Quebec is friendly towards their province.
That said, other provinces aren’t super keen on each other either, highlighting a cantankerous confederation. “This is not, you know, a nation that’s sort of unified across a cohesive confederation but one that very much seems to be sliced and diced into regional blocs,” said Kurl.
Ontarians aren’t fond of anyone; Alberta is the province most-liked by Ontarians, but only 28 per cent of them hold that affection; and 40 per cent of Ontarians don’t consider any other province to be particularly close to them.
Even where there’s some love, it’s unrequited by Ontarians. Forty-four per cent of Quebecers consider Ontario a friend, but just 12 per cent of Ontarians feel that way about Quebec. It’s even chillier in New Brunswick, where just 13 per cent return Quebec’s affection (40 per cent said they felt close with their neighbour).
“It is very much a story of unrequited love in different parts of the country,” said Kurl.
Still, the Atlantic provinces— absent Prince Edward Island because the sample size was too small — consider each other friends. Seventy-one per cent of those in New Brunswick, for example, look fondly at Nova Scotia and 51 per cent of those in Newfoundland and Labrador look at Nova Scotia as a friend.
And 77 per cent of Albertans say that Saskatchewan’s a friend; 75 per cent of them reciprocate that feeling. Sixty-three per cent of Manitobans also see Saskatchewan as a pal.
British Columbia, on the other hand, is the odd one out in the western clique: just 21 per cent of people in other western provinces say B.C. has a close relationship with their own province, and that feeling, in the same proportion, is reciprocated west of the Rockies. B.C., along with the other two most popular provinces — Quebec and Ontario, feels isolated: 43 per cent of British Columbians say they don’t feel any other provinces are close or friendly, that number is 41 per cent in Ontario and 30 per cent in Quebec.
“We are a country in which proximity or geography may or may not play a role in how close we feel to each other, very much depending on the other factors at play,” Kurl explained.
The polling, drawn from an online survey of more than 4,000 Canadians across the country who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, a group of survey respondents, also says that a “primary criticism” from residents in Alberta and Saskatchewan, is that they don’t benefit in proportion to what’s provided to the rest of the country, as discontent over equalization payments bubbles up. Just more than one-third of all Canadians believe Alberta gives more than they get to Confederation, while 16 per cent believe Saskatchewan does, too, followed by Atlantic Canada and Ontario, tied at 15 per cent.
It is very much a story of unrequited love in different parts of the country
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