The poll asked Quebecers about various advantages to being part of Canada and 67 per cent said they drew benefit from Canada's international reputation, 65 per cent said they enjoyed the protection of the Canadian charter of rights, 64 per cent said they liked having access to federal transfers for social programs and 62 per cent said Canada helped protect them against terrorism.
The result regarding Canada's international reputation is especially interesting in light of the Quebec government's recent calls for more leeway to operate internationally.
Next, the particularly fun numbers:
(T)he poll reveals other potentially significant findings about what is knitting together the Canadian identity today — not just in Quebec, but in the nation overall. Again, some of the results are surprising. For instance, while it could be expected that 87 per cent of Canadians would say that the country would be worse off without public health care, strong majorities also said the same about bilingualism, the CBC and increasing the number of visible minorities in Canada.
A full 79 per cent of respondents said that a Canada with no more bilingualism would be a "negative" change for the country, while 81 per cent said the same thing about the potential loss of the CBC and 80 per cent wouldn't want us to be without Canadian peacekeepers.
While there's something to be said for sticking to one's principles even in the face of public disapproval, it's fairly obvious that the Cons' desire to turn the focus away from the above issues puts them at odds with the vast majority of Canadians. And no number of diatribes from Manning and Harris will change that fact.
Of course, there's still the question of why Canadians keep voting for a governing party which prefers to let those institutions die a slow death instead. But there shouldn't be much doubt which side of the political spectrum better reflects Canadian values.
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