Ahead of Canada Day, majority of Canadians defend the dignity of the beaver (85%); Insist Ketchup Chips are delicious (63%)

Toronto, Ontario, June 26, 2017 — As Canada gears up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, many Canadians are using this milestone to reflect on their country. A new Ipsos poll for Historica Canada in celebration of Canada Day asked participants to pick a word – just one – that sums up what Canada means to them.

One in four (25%) say Canada represents freedom (23%) or liberty (2%), while two in ten (20%) say Canada means home. The remaining responses are highly varied, painting a rich portrait of how Canadians feel about this country.

Canada Day is also an opportunity to celebrate what Canada has brought to the world, including some of its more quirky and memorable inventions. Appreciation runs highest among Canadians for the electric oven (44%), follow by IMAX films (32%), and the snowmobile (25%). Following the recent passing of Ontario-based Hawaiian pizza creator Sam Panopoulos, Canadians continue to honour his legacy, with 22% saying a slice of Hawaiian style pizza is the invention they appreciate best. Other Canadian inventions that Canadians appreciate most include the Bloody Caesar (19%), the goalie mask (18%), the Wonderbra (17%), Superman (15%), and five-pin bowling (10%). Just 8% said they appreciated none of these inventions.

Canadians themselves are an export of sorts, with the list of famous Canadians growing longer every year. Asked which famous Canadian, living or dead, they would have a meal with, participants came back with a dizzying array of answers.  Topping the list in terms of overall mentions is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (8%), followed by singer Céline Dion (5%), former Prime Ministers Sir John A. MacDonald (4%), Pierre Elliott Trudeau (4%), and Stephen Harper (2%), hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (3%), actor Jim Carrey (2%), late actor John Candy (2%), pop superstar Justin Bieber (2%), actor Ryan Reynolds (2%), singer Shania Twain (2%), and cancer activist Terry Fox (2%). This means more than half (54%) of the names put forward received just 1% or less overall mentions, while one in ten (9%) either couldn’t name a famous Canadian or didn’t know who to pick.

Pass the Beer and Ketchup Chips
Enthusiasm for all things Canada shone through in other ways, namely in their refusal to poke fun at some of our most beloved national symbols, from the humble beaver to apologizing for everything. More than eight in ten Canadians stand by the beaver and Canada goose, while one in three (34%) dare to admit a hatred of hockey news. More than half (56%) of English-speaking Canadians apologetically say they apologize too much, while a majority of all Canadians proclaim their love of ketchup chips (63%) and Canadian beer (72%).
 

Cue the music
Canadians are keen to participate in something special to mark Canada 150. The poll found that on July 1st, eight in ten Canadians (81%) will take part in an activity specifically celebrating Canada, up ten points from 2015.  The most popular activities include attending a fireworks show (44%) and gathering with friends (40%), but one in four plan to attend an official Canada Day celebration (23%), while others will visit the nation’s capital (6%), watch a Heritage Minute or two (6%), or take part in some other activity (10%). Just shy of two in ten Canadians (19%) say they won’t take part in the celebrations on Canada Day.

Canada Day celebrations are most popular among the young: nine in ten Millennials (91%) will take part in at least one activity on July 1st, compared to eight in ten Gen X’ers (82%) and seven in ten Baby Boomers (71%). This also explains why Canadians with kids (90%) are significantly more likely to celebrate than those without (78%). Regionally, Albertans are the most likely to participate in an activity celebrating Canada on its birthday: 92% plan on doing so, compared to 89% of Prairie residents, 84% of Ontarians, 84% of Atlantic Canadians, 83% of British Columbians, and two in three Quebecers (66%).

At a backyard barbecue or at the beach, the best Canada Day celebrations come with a playlist. When asked to name their one must-play song on Canada Day, a majority of Canadians (54%) keep it traditional by sticking with O Canada. While two in ten (18%) either can’t name a song (12%) or don’t know (6%), the song picks for the remaining 28% are as diverse as the population itself, with no single song garnering more than 2% of responses.
 
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between June 7 and June 8, 2017, on behalf of Historica Canada. For this survey, a sample of 1,003 Canadians aged 18+ from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians 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:
Anthony Wilson-Smith
President and CEO
Historica Canada
416-506-1867

Sean Simpson
Vice President, Canada
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324-2002
[email protected]
For full tabular results, please visit our website at www.ipsos.com/en-ca.
News Releases are available at: www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls
 
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