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OTTAWA — The monarchy may be tired,
regressive, outdated and irrelevant for many Canadians — but it's ours.
Canadians don't know much about it — only 5 per cent of those
polled know that Queen Elizabeth II is Canada's head of state — but the
desire to abolish the monarchy has dropped dramatically since 1994, and
only a minority of Canadians want to give it up.
EKOS Research Associates found that this contradiction is at the
heart of Canadians' perceptions of the monarchy.
A clear majority — 55 per cent — agreed with the statement: "The
monarchy is one of those important things that provides Canadians with an
unique identity separate from the U.S."
Only 31 per cent disagreed.
But an almost equal proportion — 52 per cent — agreed with the
statement: "The monarchy is an outdated and regressive institution that
has no real relevance to most Canadians today;" 33 per cent disagreed.
According to Frank Graves, of the research group, 25 per cent of
those polled agreed with both positions.
But Canadians don't know much about Canada's constitutional
monarchy.
Of those asked: "Who is the head of the State in Canada?" 69 per
cent replied the Prime Minister; 9 per cent said the Governor-General, and
only 5 per cent knew the answer — the Queen.
When asked which term best describe the monarchy and the royal
family, 35 per cent answered "boring," 52 per cent "interesting," 44 per
cent "irrelevant," 46 per cent "relevant," 22 per cent "vibrant," and 59
per cent "tired."
The poll was based on 1,217 interviews conducted between May 27 and
May 29, resulting in a margin of error plus or minus 2.8 percentage
points, 19 times out of 20. |
