The morning after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, he made yet another attempt to persuade its people they would be better off joining his country.
“Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,” he wrote on Truth Social Sunday in a post that began with more false claims about the U.S. subsidizing Canada.
“Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!”
But a survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies days before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, found that most people on this side of the border would prefer Canada remain a sovereign nation.
It also found there’s little appetite to join the European Union as a way to counteract U.S. influence on Canada’s sovereignty.
Well over three-quarters of the 1,578 respondents (82 per cent) Leger Marketing interviewed between Jan. 17-20 said merging with the American experiment is not something they want to see come to pass. About the same number of respondents (75 per cent) feel the two long-time transnational partners’ relationship is good, with most landing in the “somewhat” segment and a mere two per cent dubbing it as “very bad.”
Women (86 per cent) were more opposed to the suggestion Canada join the U.S. than men (78 per cent) and rejection was highest among those 55-plus (90 per cent).
Regionally, Atlantic Canadians (87 per cent) are more strongly opposed than Albertans (79 per cent), though the western province does have the highest percentage of people who’d like to see it happen (16 per cent).
Canadians want to keep the ‘artificially drawn line’
During an early-January news conference, Trump responded to a question about annexing Canada by saying he would do so by “economic force.”
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security.”
The survey also asked people about removing the border and a full third (67 per cent) disagreed, and half of all respondents felt strongly about it, but there were pockets where the notion might tread water.
Atlantic Canadians are most likely to favour removing the boundary (31 per cent), and over a quarter of those in Quebec (27 per cent) and B.C. (26 per cent) feel the same way to varying degrees.
In terms of gender breakdown, men are more inclined to somewhat or strongly agree with eliminating boundaries (29 per cent) compared to women (19 per cent). By age group, 76 per cent of people 55 and over disagree to some extent and 29 per cent of those in the 18-34 cohort express some amount of agreement.
But by and large, Canadians of both genders and across age groups want to maintain the border.
Should Canada join the EU?
Save for Hans Island, the unpopulated arctic island where Nunavut and Denmark’s Greenland share a border, Canada doesn’t share any geographic border with Europe.
Regardless, since the early rumblings of the now seemingly imminent trade war, informal discussions about Canada joining the European Union to escape some of the economic pain have proliferated on social media sites.
While Leger’s polling found most Canadians in general oppose joining the EU (43 per cent), over a third (34 per cent) think it’s not a bad idea on some level.
Interestingly, while Atlantic Canadians counted highest to somewhat agree (31 per cent) they were the lowest of the six regions to strongly agree (8 per cent). That honour went to B.C. (14 per cent), the area furthest geographically from Europe.
Opposition was strongest in Alberta (53 per cent) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (52 per cent)
Of all the questions asked by canvassers, the EU query prompted the highest percentages of “I don’t know/I prefer not to answer” responses.
Should Canada follow the U.S. lead on foreign policy?
Leger also wanted to gauge opinion on Canada’s foreign policy and whether or not it should “more closely align” with that of the U.S.
Just over a third of respondents (35 per cent), and far more men than women, think Canada should follow its southern neighbour’s approach when dealing with the global community. Those 18-34 (40 per cent) are more inclined to agree than the 55-plus crowd, who led the way in respondents whose opinions differed (52 per cent).
Broken down by region, concurrence was highest in Atlantic Canada (31 per cent) while those in Manitoba/Saskatchewan expressed the strongest dissent (73 per cent)
While a margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample for comparison purposes, a panel of that 1,578 would have a margin of error of ± 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
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