Less Than Half (48%) of Canadians Are Satisfied with Their Provincial Healthcare System – The Same Result as Last Year

Montreal, QC, April 11^th, 2024 — An Ipsos survey for the Montreal Economic Institute is showing that Canadians’ opinions about their provincial healthcare systems have not improved in 2024 compared to last year. As in 2023, we find that less than half (48%) of Canadians are satisfied with their provincial healthcare system, with only 8% saying they are very satisfied. This proportion is even lower among women (43%), as well as residents of the Atlantic (30%).

Perceptions of the healthcare system

Views regarding the impact of additional investments injected in the healthcare system over the last ten years have not changed over time. Three in ten (33%) say that things have worsened despite the funds, with another 34% saying nothing changed and 25% believing that things improved because of those additional investments.   

Similar to the last two years, half of Canadians (52%) would like increased access to healthcare provided by independent health entrepreneurs. Residents of Quebec (65%) are the most likely to want increased access to private healthcare. Aligned with those numbers, over six in ten Canadians (65%) agree that Canada should emulate the French or Swedish healthcare system that allow private entrepreneurs to manage publicly funded hospitals – a similar proportion to the last two years.

More than three-quarters of Canadians (78%) believe their provincial healthcare system is too bureaucratic, a steady increase since 2020. Quebec residents (87%) once again sand out as the most likely to agree with this statement. In addition, more than half (58%) of Canadians agree that the rate of spending in their provincial healthcare system is unsustainable, a 4-point increase since last year. Only 19% think that levels of spending are sustainable.  

Views on the creation of “mini-hospitals” in Quebec

In light of results presented above, it is unsurprising to find that more than seven in ten Quebecers (73%) agree with the government’s proposition to open two new mini-hospitals managed by private entrepreneurs (28% strongly, 45% somewhat).

These are the results of only some of the questions covered in this survey. For more details on this study, please consult the complete report, which is available for download on this page.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between the 22^nd and 27^th of March 2024, on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute. For this survey, a sample of 1,116 Canadian adults aged 18+ years was interviewed. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Sébastien Dallaire
Senior Vice President, Ipsos Canada 
General Manager, Ipsos Quebec
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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