CANADA AND THE WORLD
The world adores Canada, says new poll
By Veronica Chail, OMNI News
The world is in love with Canada, according to the most recent poll conducted by Angus Reid Strategies for Maclean's magazine and OMNI Television.
The poll measures what nine countries think about Canada and what Canadians think about themselves.
“There are so many countries who want to give us the benefit of the doubt on any number of things. They think we’re green and wonderful. We’re a country with a perfect environmental record. They think our quality of life is right off the charts. They think we have good intentions and that we’re a force in the world.
"All of these things should make us feel really good about ourselves,” says Ken MacQueen, Vancouver bureau chief of Maclean’s.
The survey shows that other countries admire Canadians, the country's positive image and good fortune.
The most appealing characteristics of Canada are the natural environment and quality of life.
The majority of respondents say their quality of life would improve if they moved to Canada.
“91 per cent of Americans, who come from a very wealthy country, say their quality of life would improve” he says.
In addition, the least appealing aspects about Canada are climate and weather.
American respondents dislike the high taxes.
And some surprising results reveal the following:
“I think the one thing that we found to be most surprising, was the widespread misunderstanding and ignorance about Canada in the UK, which is one of the founding countries,” says Andrew Grenville, chief research officer of Angus Reid Strategies. “If you look at some of the results, people from India and people from China are actually as knowledgeable as Britain used to be,” says MacQueen.
But perhaps the most surprising result confirms what many people have always suspected, that Canadians have a relatively low national self-esteem.
“The thing that really struck me about this poll, above all else, is that the world is in love with this country. But this country doesn’t really think it’s worth the love and adoration that it’s receiving,” he adds.
