CANADA 1967 AND 2017 JACK JEDWAB PRESIDENT OF, ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN STUDIES AND THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR IDENTITIES AND MIGRATION CIIM RESEARCH, 2017, ISSUE #11 1
INTRODUCTION Historian Pierre Berton once referred to 1967 as Canada s last good year. As The Canadian Economy was at its post-war peak, and levels of prosperity and quality of life were at all-time highs. the country celebrated its 100 th Anniversary. On the night of July 1 st, her majesty Queen Elizabeth the 2 nd gave a speech lauding the great achievements of Canada. The most memorable event was Expo 67 in Montreal. A generation of Canadians grew increasingly disconnected from Britain and a new Canadian flag emerged to give expression to rising patriotic sentiment. In Quebec, however. French Canadian nationalism was on the rise and there was great concern over the relationship with English Canada. Some fifty years later as Canada celebrates its 150 th anniversary there has been considerable change in the demographic composition of the country and its outlook on a range of social issues. That which follows will examine the change in views on selected issues between 1967 and 2017. 2
METHODOLOGY The firm leger marketing surveyed 1700 persons via web panel in the Leger poll for the Association for Canadian Studies between June 16 and June 20, 2017 with a probabilistic margin of error for the national sample of 3.9 pecent 19 times out of 20 (and the Quebec sample of 660 has a probabilistic margin of error of 3.9 percent 19 times out of 20). The Gallup Polls were conducted by telephone between the years 1966 and 1967 with 700 respondents Canada wide (it s difficult to establish the margin of error). The Gallup poll suggests that In many cases, it is advisable to weight analysis results before reporting them. Correct weighting requires careful consideration. All results need careful interpretation. Where it was deemed necessary small adjustments were made to the 2017 question formulation to ensure respondents best comprehend what was asked but for the most part the 1966 and 1967 Gallup surveys were put the same way as the 2017 Leger survey. For some of the results adjustments were made for the non-respondents in the ACS-LEGER survey to support better comparative analysis with the Gallup polls 3
SOMEWHAT MORE EXCITEMENT OVER CENTENNIAL THAN SESQUICENTENNIAL BUT OVERALL INTEREST HIGHER ON 150 TH 4
ECONOMIC CHANGE 5
FOOD PRICES THE BIGGER IRRITANT IN 67 WHILE UTILITIES AND GAS BOTHER MOST TODAY 6
MORE THOUGHT TAXES FAIR IN 67 THAN TODAY 7
MORE PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY WERE WEALTHY IN 67 THAN TODAY 8
FAR MORE CANADIANS VALUED US INVESTMENT IN 67 THAN TODAY 9
PRESTIGE OF RELIGIOUS OCCUPATIONS VANISHES AND POLITICAL CLASS ERODES SINCE 67 WHILE ESTEEM FOR ACADEMY AND MILITARY RISE 10
SOCIAL CHANGE 11
FATHERS ROLE AS PERCEIVED HEAD OF FAMILY PLUMMETS BETWEEN 67 AND TODAY 12
RETIREMENT AT 65 MORE FAVORED IN 67 THAN TODAY 13
IDENTITY 14
OPPOSITION TO INTERRACIAL AND INTERRELIGIOUS MARRIAGE VIRTUALLY ELIMINATED BETWEEN 67 AND TODAY 15
HEALTH AND KNOWLEDGE SEEN AS DETERIORATING MOST BETWEEN 1967 AND 2017 16
RELATIONS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH SEEN AS BETTER TODAY THAN IN 67 17
STRENGTH OF SEPARATISM SEEN SIMILARLY IN 67 AS TODAY THOUGH ITS INTENSITY (PERCEIVED AS VERY STRONG) VIEWED AS GREATER IN 67 18
MORE APPROVE IMMIGRATION POLICY TODAY THAN IN 1967 19
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES VIEWED AS BETTER TREATED IN 67 THAN TODAY. 20
GLOBAL ISSUES 21
US PRESTIGE TUMBLES FROM LEVEL AMONGST CANADIANS IN 67 22
WORLD WAR PERCEIVED MORE LIKELY TODAY THAN IN 67 YET PERCEIVED CHANCE OF SURVIVAL MUCH GREATER TODAY 23
PEOPLE BELIEVE THEIR CHANCES OF SURVIVAL OF WORLD WAR BETTER TODAY THAN THEY WERE IN 67 24
MORE INTEREST IN POLITICS IN 67 THAN TODAY 25
SOME OF THE THINGS WE DIDN T ASK 26
50% agreed that homosexual behavior, if it is conducted in private between men aged 21 and over should be a criminal act 71% agreed that birth control pills should be made available free to all women on relief of childbearing age 89% agreed that these pills are effective 57% would you recommend these pills to a woman who does not want more children 75% approved of the idea that woman who have more children than they can provide for properly and ask to be sterilized 27
57% agreed that it is in bad taste for women to wear shorts in public 70% agreed it was in bad taste for women to smoke while driving or walking 58% agreed it was in bad taste for Women to wear stretch pants in public 45% agree that a person who drives a car after having more than one drink of alcoholic beverages should be sent to jail 15% would you like to go along on the first rocket trip to the moon 57% Agree that TV is a good influence on family life 28
32% Agree with the following...some people say that because of things like family allowances and other social security measures, Canada is heading towards socialism. 65% agreed that looking ahead to the next ten years, the British commonwealth of nations will decease in importance 67% agreed that Canada should recognize communist China 29
AREA SHOW GREATEST CHANGE IN DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA 30
CIMI.CA ACS-AEC.CA QUESTIONS? THANK YOU @Copyright Jack Jedwab Canada 1967 and 2017 31 Drafted initially on: July 1rst, 2017: Issue #11 Canadian Institute of Identities and Migration Association of Canadian Studies