confederation of tomorrow

The latest edition of the Confederation of Tomorrow annual survey shows that Canadians haven’t changed their mind on provincial protectionism. | By Charles Breton & Andrew Parkin

The issues of Canadian identity and unity came to the fore in the first few months of 2025, in the face of the threatening policies and pronouncements of returning U.S. president Donald Trump.

The annual Confederation of Tomorrow surveys explore the relationships between different types of identity. It asks about attachment to and identification with Canada and one’s province or territory; it also asks Indigenous Peoples about their attachment to their Indigenous nation or community.

How do Canadians today see relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and how the process of reconciliation unfolding? Confederation of Tomorrow surveys have been addressing this topic since 2019, and the 2024 survey provides a fresh update on public attitudes from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, and how they have evolved over time.

The study finds that views on whether federal and provincial governments are working well together have not changed that much over the past two decades. However, compared to the early 2000s, Canadians are less likely to blame both governments equally when conflict arises, and more likely to take sides by blaming either the federal government or their provincial government.

The 2024 Confederation of Tomorrow survey revisits the topic of official bilingualism and the importance of children learning to speak a second language. It finds that support for bilingualism as a policy, and interest in children learning a second language, both remain fairly high.

Canadians are evenly divided on the relative priority that should be given to protecting the environment versus protecting jobs. The emphasis placed on environmental protection has declined since 2023 across the population.

The availability and affordability of housing has emerged as a top public policy issue. And it is one in which all governments – federal, provincial and territorial, and local – have a role to play.

Canadians are losing trust in the ability of both the federal government and their provincial governments to deal with key issues such as health care, climate change, immigration or the economy.

The outlook in Atlantic Canada has changed significantly over the past two years. In 2021, almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the region stood out from other Canadians as being much more satisfied with the direction of the country in general, and with the way both the federal government and their provincial governments had managed the crisis so far.