About one in four Canadians aged 25 to 44 say they are “not at all hopeful” about the way democracy works in Canada, according to a Statistics Canada study released Tuesday. That makes younger adults the least hopeful age group in the country, just as voters in Quebec head to the polls on Oct. 5.
The study, titled “Taking the pulse: Perceptions of democracy in Canada,” draws on the agency’s 2024 Survey Series on People and their Communities. Nationally, 71 per cent of people 15 and older said they were a little or somewhat hopeful about democracy, 12 per cent said they were very hopeful and 17 per cent said they were not at all hopeful, Statistics Canada reported.
Older Canadians were the mirror image of their younger neighbours. Among people 65 and older, roughly 18 per cent felt very hopeful and about 10 per cent felt no hope at all, according to The Canadian Press, which reviewed the study.
The headline number invites an easy conclusion: young people have given up. The data says otherwise. Statistics Canada found that people with no hope in democracy were more likely, not less, to take part in political activity outside the ballot box. Fifty-seven per cent of the least hopeful group reported at least one such activity, compared with 44 per cent of the other groups. They were more likely to sign petitions (27 per cent versus 17 per cent among the somewhat hopeful) and to search for information on political issues (47 per cent versus 32 per cent). BNN Bloomberg reported that 26 per cent of the least hopeful said they boycotted or chose products for ethical reasons, compared with 15 per cent of the most hopeful.
Just as telling, the study found reported voting rates in the 2021 federal election were similar no matter how hopeful people felt. In other words, frustration with the system is not keeping people home on election day. It is pushing them toward other ways of being heard.
Where the gap is widest is trust. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of the very hopeful reported high confidence in Parliament, compared with 11 per cent of those with no hope. The split on news media was similar: 59 per cent of the most hopeful said they had high trust in news outlets, against 17 per cent of the least hopeful. The Canadian Press also reported that low-hope respondents showed less trust in scientific experts and civic institutions, but more trust in local businesses and police.
For a newsroom, that last finding is uncomfortable but important. The people most frustrated with democracy are also the least likely to trust the reporting that explains it, which leaves them more exposed to whatever fills that gap online.
The study also found that non-immigrants reported a less hopeful view of democracy than immigrants and non-permanent residents, and that people with better mental health tended to be more hopeful. The Prairie provinces, including Alberta, had the highest share of people with no hope at all, at roughly a quarter, while British Columbia led in the share who felt very hopeful, according to The Canadian Press.
There is a question the release does not answer: how much has changed since. The data was collected in 2024, before the April 2025 federal election, a change in prime minister and the trade war with the United States that has dominated the past year and a half. Whether that period rallied younger Canadians around their institutions or deepened their frustration is something only a newer survey can show. The Canadian Press reported the survey targeted about 70,000 people, with a final response rate of roughly 24 per cent, a reminder that these are estimates, not a census of public mood.
What the numbers do suggest is that the usual framing of young Canadians as apathetic misses the point. Many are engaged, sceptical and looking for results. With several votes on the calendar this fall, including the Quebec election, the challenge for parties is less about getting young people to care and more about giving them a reason to believe the system can deliver.
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Sources: Statistics Canada, The Daily; via The Canadian Press (Young Canadians less hopeful about democracy); BNN Bloomberg.
