Albertans and Prairie Residents are Proud Canadians: Evolving National and Regional Pride Over The Course Of The Campaign
April 11, 2025
Over the course of the last month there has been much political turbulence with the emerging annexation and tariff threats from the US and its impact on the federal election campaign driving Canada-US elections to the top of the agenda. The election campaign has also given rise to concerns over regional divisions which have been the object of much attention in Alberta and Quebec presumably associated with shifting expectations around the electoral outcome. Some observers have suggested that President Trump’s threats have united Canadians and strengthened resolve and cohesion in ways that the country’s leading voices for Canadian unity have rarely proven able. Others have pointed to cracks in unity with a purported rise in Albertan separatist sentiment. A March 2025 Leger survey for the Association for Canadian Studies pointed to near record levels of pride in being Canadian with Quebecers seeing a jump from 80% to 86%. What a difference a month makes as Quebecers level of pride in being Canadian returned to its earlier benchmark level while pride in Alberta and the Prairies has seen record gains. According to an April 5 and 6 2025 Leger survey for the ACS, Quebecers pride in country and region are roughly similar (though not for Quebec francophones) while Albertans and Prairie residents put Canada well ahead of their respective level of pride in their province/region. The survey also reveals that pride aside, the largest plurality of Quebecers agree than an independent Quebec would have much less influence than a United Canada in dealing with the threat from the United States The survey was conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies with 1631 respondents in Canada over the period April 5 and 6 , 2025 A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of 1631 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.