Deceivin' who? and Pessimistic Albertans

Canada Day always leads to a plethora of surveys and studies that are lapped-up by lazy media and, in this modern era, lazy bloggers (like moi). Found this bit from the Dominion Institute to be interesting though:

Even on a no-brainer such as this - "What is the name of the Prime Minister of Canada?" - 18 per cent didn't know it was Stephen Harper. (In the immigrant group, only 7 per cent didn't know.)

Do they really not know, my Dominion Institute friends, or are they maybe trying to forget? Maybe this is what happens when you spend all your money on ads attacking the other guy…

In other Canada Day survey news, here’s another interesting one. It surveyed Canadians’ optimism on the whole Quebec in Canada thing. Generally, we’re all feeling good about it (68 per cent optimistic).

When broken down by province though, which one is least optimistic about Quebec’s future in Canada? While I’d forgive you for thinking Quebec (65 per cent optimistic) but interestingly, it’s actually Alberta that is more. They’re more pessimistic on Quebec than Quebecers are and by a wide margin, at 55 per cent optimistic.

What’s up? Here’s the study’s explanation:

A larger percentage of Albertans — but a considerable number of respondents in other provinces — appear to feel that those concessions to Quebec could “come back to haunt” the country and revive the unity debate, he said.

“Some people in Alberta might feel that we haven’t satisfied (Quebec’s) appetite yet,” he said, adding that Alberta’s soaring economic status in the country may also be giving rise to a growing sense of its responsibility in dealing with Quebec in the future.

Alberta now has “more at stake,” he said, “and some of those concerns may be reflected here.”

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