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Survey Results

Posted on by Bradford

If you think Democracy Watch is exaggerating how much Canada’s government accountability and corporate responsibility systems are the scandal, and how much Canadians want democratizing changes, consider the following survey results and reports:

  • According to a national survey of 1,502 adult Canadians conducted between January 5-12, 2023, only 22% of Canadians trust in politicians in general.
  • An October-November 2022 national survey of 1,084 adult Canadians rated Canada’s democracy as a 5.7 out of 10, equivalent to a D+ grade.
  • A survey conducted in August 2022 of 2,000 adult Canadians, 66 percent are concerned or surprised that Canada ranks 59th in the world in representation of women in Parliament (down from 27th place in 2002), 77 percent agree that women face greater criticism than men when running for public office, and 84-86 percent agree that having gender parity in the legislature is good for communities, the economy and effective representation.
  • A December 2021 national survey of 1,750 Canadians age 16 to 24 found that 63% don’t feel welcome to participate in civic engagement activities including involvement in politics.
  • A national survey in 2021 found 71% of Canadian voters want government regulation of social media companies and sites to reducing the amount of hate speech, harassment and false information (especially false information concerning politics) online.
  • A national CBC-commissioned survey of 4,500 adult Canadians in May-June 2019 finds 88% feel that politicians care more about staying in power than doing what’s right, and 78% say they believe that the country is divided between “ordinary people” and “elites.”
  • A February 2019 online national survey of 1,511 English- and French-speaking adult Canadians found that 86 percent agree that politicians have lost touch and 73 percent agree that politicians don’t care (with both percentages increasing by 11 percent since the same questions were asked in 2006), and; 77 percent agree that we could solve most of our problems if decisions were brought back to the grassroots (an increase of 16 percent since 2006).
  • A September-October 2018 hybrid phone and online national survey of 1,000 adult Canadians found that more than 80 percent were not comfortable or somewhat not comfortable when parties allow registered lobbyists to attend fundraising events featuring the party leader that are only open to top donors. Click here to see an article about the survey.
  • A December 2014 survey of 1,000 adult Canadians by Nanos Research found that 61 percent of those surveyed supported the position that the views of local party constituent members “should be supreme in determining who represents the party locally” and only 24 percent supported the party leader having the power “to prevent someone from becoming a party candidate in a riding.” The survey also found that 73 percent of those surveyed said that a majority vote of MPs in a party caucus should be needed to expel an MP from the caucus, while only 17 percent supported allowing a party leader to make a unilateral decision to expel an MP (10 percent were unsure).
  • An international survey conducted in spring 2017 by the Pew Research Centre (that included Canada) found that only 20% of voters have lot of trust in the federal government
  • A national survey released in June 2017 found that only 27% of Canadians have a lot of trust in the justice system, only 26% in the Prime Minister, 22% in municipal government, 19% in Parliament, and 10% in political parties.
  • A national survey released in November 2015 found that: more than 60% of voters believe that Canadian politics is a corrupt game; 50% said that they would vote for a party that they didn’t really support if the politician or party they support acted unethically, and; 20% said that political corruption had led them to stop voting;
  • An October 2014 survey by the Gandalf Group for Ryerson University found only 13% of adult Canadians trust politicians (and only 9% trust lobbyists);
  • A summer 2014 survey by the Environics Institute found that almost 70% of Canadians are concerned the political parties may try to illegally rig election results;
  • The October-December 2013 Ekos Research polls found that only 24% of Canadians think government does the right thing most of the time (the lowest percentage in the past 20 years); 59% of Canadians think our democracy is unhealthy and 54% see this as their greatest concern;
  • A national survey released in July 2013 found that: 53 per cent of Canadians believed the level of corruption in Canada had increased in the previous two years; 54 per cent believed the government is either “entirely” or “to a large extent” run by a few big entities acting in their own best interests, and; 62 per cent of Canadians thought political parties are affected by corruption;
  • The May 2013 Environics poll found that 71% of Canadians want legal restrictions on the powers of political party leaders to control politicians in their party;
  • The May 2013 Ekos Research poll found that 90% of Canadians do not trust politicians;
  • The December 2012 Harris-Decima poll found that 84% of Canadians want legal restrictions to stop abuses of power by the Prime Minister and premiers;
  • The June 2012 Ipsos Reid poll found that 95% of Canadians believe politicians have little or nothing in common with voters;
  • The 2010 Global Integrity Report which ranked Canada 19th overall out of more than 100 countries assessed since 2006, with an overall score of only 75;
  • Democracy Watch’s List of much-needed federal government inquiries (archive website);
  • The Fall 2011 Nanos Research survey (PDF) showing that a majority of Canadians do not trust federal and provincial governments;
  • The Fall 2007 Ipsos Reid poll found that more than 70% of Canadians believe large companies have too much influence on the decisions of their government and they want a more aggressive crack down on the activities and influence of national and multinational corporations. To see a PDF of the survey results, click here;
  • a 2007 Ekos Research survey found that only 18% of Canadian voters thought the federal government was doing a good job of consulting them about decisions;
  • The 2006 Nanos Research survey (PDF) that found that 62%-76% of Canadians felt that the federal Conservatives’ so-called Federal Accountability Act represented positive change (NOTE: the survey did not describe the Act‘s promised measures accurately — the measures are full of loopholes because the Conservatives broke their 2006 election promises);
  • The 2005 SES Research survey (PDF) that found 61% of Canadians want more input into Canadian government decision-making;