"Survey results indicate more Canadians see the country as having become more right-leaning over the last 10 years than think it has moved left, even as a majority are in favour of the federal government playing a role in redistributing wealth.
Results of an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll conducted for Montreal magazine L’Actualite, showed 37 per cent of respondents feel the values of the country have become more right-wing over the last decade. Just 15 per cent said the country has become more left-wing, 22 per cent said it was unchanged, while 26 per cent weren’t sure.
Looking at the current federal government, one might think Canadians are more right-leaning, have recently elected a majority Conservative government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. That’s in contrast to Jean Chretien’s majority Liberal governments that dominated Ottawa for most of the 1990s and the early part of the last decade.
“(The Harper government) has said as much, that they feel that Canada had moved to the right, and you can see that a lot of Canadians feel that way,” said Jaideep Mukerji, vice-president of Angus Reid Public Opinion.
“There’s probably some division among Canadians whether that is a good thing or a bad thing,” he added.
Respondents in Quebec and British Columbia were most likely to perceive a shift to the right in the country’s values, with 40 per cent of respondents in those provinces answering this way. The proportions feeling this way in other regions were 37 per cent in Atlantic Canada, 34 per cent in Ontario, 33 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba which were polled together, and 35 per cent in Alberta.
And 56 cent of respondents agreed that the federal government has “an important role” in redistributing wealth and intervening in the economy “even if it means increasing taxes.” On the other hand, 36 per cent disagreed, while eight per cent were unsure.
Support for federal government economic intervention was strongest in Ontario at 62 per cent and lowest in Alberta at 44 per cent. In the Atlantic, 55 per cent supported this kind of government involvement; it was 52 per cent in Quebec; 55 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and 55 per cent in B.C.
Asked if he saw anything contradictory about these results and the view many hold that the country has become more right-leaning, Mukerji said: “Not necessarily. I think it means that Canadians can appreciate that a country can move to the right and they can still hold views that may not be pure conservative views.”
There were some notable differences between men’s and women’s responses in the survey. For instance, 48 per cent of men indicated the country had become more right-wing in the last 10 years, compared to 26 per cent of women. There were similar proportions — 16 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women — who said Canada had become more left-wing. However, 38 per cent of women said they were not sure on this question compared to just 14 per cent of men.
On federal government intervention in the economy, 60 per cent of men were in favour compared to 53 per cent of women. On this question, 12 per cent of females said they were unsure compared to three per cent of men.
“Men are just much less likely to say they’re not sure about something,” Mukerji said. “They’re likely to just say they have an opinion on something, whereas women, I think, are a little more reflective on some of these issues.”
The results were based on online survey of 1,006 Canadian adults and were conducted between Jan. 6 and 8. Angus Reid said the results are representative of the population within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20." - Derek Abma, The Vancouver Sun.
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