How satisfied you are with the way things are going in Canada depends very much on where you are living, reveals a new poll.
While a majority of Canadians are satisfied with the direction of the country, there is a wildly different sentiment in the Prairies, where people are feeling widespread dismay at the state of affairs, a new survey from the Angus Reid Institute says.
“The prospect of a new year is bringing new concerns and anxieties for some Canadians and a bullish outlook for others. How they feel has largely to do with where they live,” says the institute in a news release headlined “Two Canadas?”
The poll shows that more than 60 per cent of Canadians living in central Canada, the Atlantic Provinces and British Columbia are happy with the ways things are going in the country. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, the numbers are almost reversed, with only 29 per cent of Albertans and 39 per cent of people in Saskatchewan satisfied with the direction Canada is taking.
Those numbers represent steep declines from four years ago. In Alberta, the number of people happy with the direction of the country has plummeted from 53 per cent in 2016 to 29 per cent today. In Saskatchewan, the number has dropped 18 percentage points from 57 to 39 per cent.
About 54 per cent of Manitobans are satisfied with the direction of the country this year, which is a decline of 14 percentage points from 2016.
The regional disparity in the country is almost matched by a big difference in how men and women feel about the direction of the country. Across Canada, 46 per cent of men say they are unhappy with the way things are going compared to about 32 per cent of women. There is relatively little difference among age groups.
The deep resentment in Alberta is a consequence of the recent economic downturn and the lengthy and fractious process of getting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built. The project would carry more Albertan oil to the West Coast, where it may be able to command a better price.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently unveiled a “fair deal panel,” which is examining the various ways Albertans think Confederation is unbalanced against them.
The panel’s website says it will look for ways to get a “bigger voice within the federation, increase our power over areas of provincial jurisdiction, and advance our vital economic interests, such as building energy pipelines.”
But the poll also found that people across the country are far more worried about the future of their province. Asked if they are optimistic or pessimistic about the future of their province, respondents across the country are almost evenly divided (53 per cent optimistic versus 47 per cent pessimistic).
The biggest divide is between Alberta and Quebec. Seventy-seven per cent of people in Alberta feel pessimistic whereas 73 per cent of people in Quebec feel optimistic. Saskatchewan and the Atlantic also saw a slim majority of people feeling pessimistic.
One bright spot in the survey results is that Canadians are much more optimistic about their own lives than they are about the country as a whole. Seventy-five per cent of Canadians say they are optimistic about their own future. In Alberta, where fewer than 30 per cent of respondents are optimistic about the country, 58 per cent are still optimistic about their own situation. And the most rose-coloured Canadians are in Quebec, where 87 per cent of people are optimistic about their own future.
A person’s optimism about their own situation tends to rise with income levels, but a large majority of households with the lowest income are still optimistic. Sixty-eight per cent of Canadians making less than $25,000 per year are optimistic, compared to more than 80 per cent of Canadians who are making more than $100,000 per year.
One thing that people of all ages seem to agree on: young people should be pessimistic about the future. Sixty-one per cent of respondents said they were anxious about the future of the next generation — a five percentage point increase from 2016 — and that response tracks roughly the same among all age groups.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
