The Canadian Flag as a Symbol of National Pride: A question of Shared Values Jack Jedwab Association for Canadian Studies November 28 th, 2012

Introduction On Wednesday, the 28 th of November the Quebec National Assembly will vote on whether to remove the Canadian flag from the Red Room of the Quebec National Assembly. A survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies from the firm Leger Marketing reveals that some 66% of Quebecers regard the Canadian Flag as an important source of personal or collective pride in Canada. While two- thirds of Quebecers have an affinity with the flag, some ninety percent feel such pride over the flag elsewhere in the country. The following question was asked: How important are each of the following as a source of personal or collective pride in Canada? Are they very important, somewhat important, not very important or not important at all?

Methodology The findings were collected from a survey of 2200 Canadians conducted by the firm Leger Marketing during the week of November 5th, 2012 and commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies. Done by web panel, the margin of error for an equivalent telephone survey is 2.9 percent 19 times out of 20

Two-thirds of Quebecers regard the Canadian flag as an important source of pride How important is the Canadian flag as a source of personal or collective pride in Canada? TotalFrenchEnglishOther Mari- timesQCONMB/SKABBC TOTAL YES84%65%90%86%88%66%90%88%90% Very important54%28%63%55%58%29%63%64%59%62% Somewhat important 30%37%27%31%29%37%27%24%31%28% TOTAL NO15%34%9%12%9%33%9%11%10%8% Not very important 10%23%6%8%5%22%5%10%8%5% Not important at all 5%11%3%4%3%10%4%1%2%3% I don't know1%0%1% 0% 1% 0%1% I prefer not to answer 1% 4%1%0%1%0%1%

Even amongst those Quebecers saying that they are Quebecers first then Canadians some 62% attach importance to the Canadian flag as a source of personal or collective pride Quebec People have different ways of defining themselves. Do you consider yourself to be: Importance of at all / The Canadian flag Canadian only Canadian first but also from your province Equally Canadian and from your province From your province first but also from From your province only Very important54.3%49.1%37.3%17.9%1.5% Somewhat important 20.0%37.9%44.1%43.9%11.9% Not very important 25.7%10.3%16.7%26.0%41.8% Not important at all 2.6%1.0%10.2%41.8% I don't know1.0%1.5% I prefer not to answer 2.0%1.5%

Quebecers over 60 most proud of flag but youth close to Quebec average How important as a source of personal or collective pride in is the Canadian flag Quebecers Very important Somewhat important Total Pride Not very important Not important at all I don't know/ I prefer not to answer Between 18 and % 62.0% 19.0%16.7%2.4% Between 25 and %34.4% 62.5% 28.1%9.4% Between 30 and %29.2% 50.0% 41.7%8.3% Between 35 and %42.6% 65.6% 21.3%6.6% 6.6 Between 40 and %48.6% 74.3% 20.0%5.7% Between 45 and %26.7% 58.4% 31.7%10.0% Between 50 and %39.3% 62.3% 27.9%9.8% Between 55 and %32.5% 62.5% 22.5%15.0% Between 60 and %46.2% 73.1% 19.2%5.8%1.9% 65 years of age or older 37.1%37.9% 75.0% 12.9%12.1%

Is Values Discourse Understood by the Canadian population? The talk about shared values needs to be accompanied by specifics otherwise it is a source of confusion and gives rise to ambiguous responses as reflected in the next two slides

The values driving Canadian society are similar to my own Total pondéré : Total FrenchEnglishROCQC TOTAL YES 63%65%59%54%56%69%62%45%69%68%47% Strongly agree 14%19%15%10%15%11%8%9%15% 10% Somewha t agree 49%46%44% 41%57%54%36%54%53%37% TOTAL NO 27%20%27%28%29%24%30%45%21%22%41% Somewha t disagree 20%14%16%17%23%21%25%35%16%17%31% Strongly disagree 6% 12%10%5%3%5%10%5% 10% I don't know 9%10%13%14% 4%8%9% 11% I prefer not to answer 2%5%0%4%1%3%1% 2%1% More Quebecers agree than disagree that Canadian values are similar to their own

However majority of Quebecers agree they do not share the same values as other Canadians Quebecers and other Canadians share the same values Total FrenchEnglishOtherROCQC TOTAL YES 38%43%40%35%31%45%37%28%41% 28% Strongly agree 8%14%8%9%7%12%6%4%10%9%10%4% Somewh at agree 30%29%32%27%24%33%31%24%31%32%31%24% TOTAL NO 53%43%46%48%62%48%56%66%50%51%50%65% Somewh at disagree 34%30%27% 42%30%37%45%30%31%30%44% Strongly disagree 20%13%19%21%20%19% 21%20% 19%21% I don't know 7%11%13% 6%4%6%5%8%6%8%6% I prefer not to answer 1%3%1%3%1%3%1% 2%1%