The monarchy is not contested only in Quebec, it is also losing feathers in English Canada.
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This is unheard of: there are now more people in English Canada who want the abolition of the British Crown than people who want to keep it, reveals a Léger poll, conducted at the end of January, after the forced resignation of Governor General Julie Payette.
“This is the first time we’ve seen that,” says pollster Jean-Marc Léger.
Thus, 39% of the people questioned want to leave the monarchy, while 34% want to keep it. A quarter of the rest are undecided or don’t know.
Last week, a Léger poll published in Le Journal indicated that Quebeckers have a much stronger opinion on the monarchy: three quarters of them want its abolition. However, this finding is not new, since anti-monarchy sentiment has always been strong in the province.
In English Canada, on the other hand, things are changing, and fast. Another Léger poll, carried out in 2018, revealed, for example, that 55% of Albertans and 49% of Ontarians then held on to the British Crown. Two years later, the proportion of Albertans in favor of the monarchy is only 35% while that of Ontarians has fallen to 36%.
For Jean-Marc Léger, the findings are clear. “With everything that happened with Julie Payette, people have had enough,” he says.
There is also a wear and tear of British royalty, fueled recently by the departure of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and Prince Andrew’s murky relationship with minors. “In recent years, there have been few positive stories and many negative stories,” notes Jean-Marc Léger.
No to abolition
In addition, the National Assembly yesterday rejected a motion by the Parti Québécois to abolish the post of lieutenant governor.
The Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, Sonia LeBel, pleaded that the abolition of this position is a “complex and cumbersome” process. Its role and powers are “intrinsically intertwined” in the functioning of the Quebec Parliament, she argued.
The CAQ would eventually like to do so, but “when the context allows”.
Survey
Would you vote for the maintenance or abolition of the monarchy in Canada?
Abolition of the monarchy
- Québec : 74 %
- Canada : 39 %
Maintenance of the monarchy
- Québec : 12 %
- Canada : 34 %
Don’t know / refusal
- Québec : 14 %
- Canada : 26 %
Methodology : A web survey was conducted among 2,122 Canadians who could speak French or English. The data was collected in two stages. A first collection was carried out from January 29 to 31, 2021, from 1,000 Quebecers and is the subject of another report. In order to improve this first analysis, an additional collection was carried out from February 5 to 7, 2021 from 1,122 Canadians from other provinces, resulting in a total sample of 2,122 Canadians. It is not possible to calculate a margin of error on a sample drawn from a panel, but for comparison, the maximum margin of error for a sample of 2122 respondents is +/- 2.1%, and this, 19 times out of 20.
– With Patrick Bellerose
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