A building facade with three lights above a bilingual sign reading Gouvernement du Canada and Government of Canada, next to a Canadian flag logo—a reminder that the CPC needs to get back to bilingualism.

The CPC needs to get back to bilingualism

Over the last 20 years, only two of the past seven federal elections have produced majority governments. Governing and opposition parties alike have struggled to grow their popularity with Canadians.

Two flags, the Canadian flag above and the American flag below, flutter on a flagpole against a bright blue sky—a striking symbol of Canada and the United States' political and cultural connections.

The differences between Canada and the U.S. remain significant

Political leaders in Canada benefit from our inevitable tendency to compare ourselves to the United States. No matter how bad things are here, there is a good chance they are worse there.

Surveys show Canadian are less polarized and angry than Americans

We are living in an era of populism and polarization. Our politics is divided and angry. And if anything is changing, it is changing for the worse. Or so we are often told.

A city street scene at dusk with traffic and pedestrians, overlaid with a red tint. The text reads FOCUS CANADA and highlights Satisfaction, Outlook and Opportunities. A street sign for Adelaide Street West is visible.

Satisfaction, Outlook and Opportunities

The survey finds that younger Canadians have grown more dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, and more pessimistic about prospects for the next generation.

A blended image of the Canadian and U.S. flags with the text “Focus Canada - Public Opinion in Canada and the United States” overlaid in white letters.

Public Opinion in Canada and the United States

The diminishing concern about the impact of free trade on Canada’s cultural identity coincides with some sharp differences of opinion between Canadians and Americans on prominent social issues.

A white flag with the words WEXIT ALBERTA in bold letters waves against a blue sky with clouds, as Albertans, growing alienated from their own leaders too, rally to

Forget Ottawa — Albertans growing alienated from their own leaders, too

There is no shortage of new irritants in the relationship between Ottawa and the three Prairie provincial governments. In recent years they have faced off over the carbon tax, pipeline construction, energy exports, federal spending and vaccine mandates. Western alienation may have deep historical roots, but current events never fail to rejuvenate the sentiment.

The image shows the historic Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa, featuring a central clock tower and Gothic Revival architecture under a cloudy sky, quietly prompting the question: Are Canadians finally at peace with their Constitution?.

Are Canadians finally at peace with their Constitution?

After the optimism of the country’s centenary in 1967, one set of scholars published a group of essays entitled Must Canada Fail? In a similar fashion, the adoption of a new, made-in-Canada Constitution in 1982 was met with another classic academic volume: And No One Cheered.

Québécois et Canadiens ont-ils fait la paix avec la Constitution?

Plus de 25 ans après le référendum de 1995 sur la souveraineté et à la veille du 40e anniversaire du rapatriement de la Constitution, il peut être facile d’oublier que, du début des années 1960 à la fin des années 1990, débattre des lois fondamentales au Canada était presque devenu un sport national.

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station as others wait nearby. The image appears in the report Democracy and Political Polarization in Canada and the U.S. by Environics Institute, dated December 2021.

Democracy and Political Polarization in Canada and the U.S.

This presentation compares the results in Canada and the United Sates. It shows that American politics remains highly polarized in several senses; for instance, there are significant gaps in trust in the political system between those who identify as liberals and those who identify as conservatives.

Overhead view of an elderly person with a cane walking on a sidewalk alongside a younger person carrying a backpack, both casting long shadows—reflecting the generational perspectives in five public-opinion trends to watch in 2025.

Who voted for the People’s Party of Canada?

At first glance, the 2021 federal election appears to have changed very little. Each party was returned to the House of Commons with about as many seats as it had previously held.

Environics Institute for Survey Research

701-33 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON M4W 3H1

info@environicsinstitute.org

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