Are you proud to be Canadian? The poll suggests sentiment is waning, for some

OTTAWA — A new survey suggests the vast majority of Canadians are proud of their home and homeland, but our sense of national pride is lower than it was a few years ago.

Polling firm Leger surveyed 1,607 people last weekend asking how they feel about being Canadian ahead of Canada Day. The firm asked a group of 1,003 Americans similar questions before the Fourth of July.

The results suggest that the vast majority of us – 76 per cent – would call ourselves proud Canadians.

But 45 percent of people surveyed said they felt less proud than they did five years ago in 2019. Leger said that’s up 16 percentage points from 2021, when they asked the same question.

Respondents were asked to choose from a list of things that make them most proud to be Canadian. The country’s natural beauty topped the list, followed by universal health care, freedom and equality, a peaceful and safe society, and multiculturalism.

Only one in five said their fellow Canadians made them feel proud.

The long waiting lists, shortage of family doctors and overcrowded emergency rooms that have made headlines across the country in recent years are taking a toll on our collective pride in healthcare.

The state of the health care system was near the top of the list of concerns for respondents, second only to economic inequality and poverty, as what made people feel the least proud to be Canadian.

It ranks third on that list: the current federal government.

A large majority of people who chose Trudeau’s Liberals as their top concern also said they were supporters of the federal Conservatives, the survey found.

In fact, Conservative voters were more likely to say they were less proud to be Canadian than they were five years ago, with 65% agreeing with that statement, compared to just 26% of Liberal voters, 41% of NDP supporters and 36 percent of those who support the Bloc Québécois.

94 per cent of those who said they voted Liberal also said they were proud Canadians, a figure that dropped to 88 per cent among NDP voters, 68 per cent among Conservatives and 51 per cent among who support the bloc.

And yet the proudest region was the conservative heartland of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where more than 80 percent said they were proud of the Canucks.

Citizens were the most likely to say their level of pride has not changed in five years and the most likely to say they are not proud to be Canadian.

Only 22% of Quebec respondents said they planned to celebrate Canada Day, the lowest in the country. Quebec recently celebrated Saint-Jean Baptiste Day, also known as Fête nationale, on June 24.

Less than half of those surveyed plan to celebrate on July 1.

Overall, only seven percent of those surveyed said they were more proud than they were in 2019, while 45 percent said things had not changed.

Compare that to our neighbors south of the border, where about one in five respondents said they were prouder to be American than they were five years ago. Another 45% said their feelings had not changed, and 35% said their sense of pride had decreased.

Half of American respondents said they think their home country is one of the best places in the world to live, compared to 41% of Canadians.

A quarter of Canadian respondents said they think Canada has a lot of work to do to achieve its reputation as the best country in the world, while only five percent of Americans said the same about the US. Conversely, 27 percent said they believed the U.S. had some issues to work out but had a bright future. Only eight percent of Canadian respondents reported feeling this way about Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 30, 2024.

Sarah Ritchie, Canadian Press