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We might not be able to say much about our own or American history, or pick out a Canadian author, but we can at least spot a Yankee painter from a kilometre away.

The results of a survey released today by polling firm Ipsos Reid and the Dominion Institute comparing Canadians' knowledge of their own history, political system and culture with their handle on those of the United States, are perhaps predictable: bad on both but worse on Canada.

On average, respondents answered 42 per cent of a series of basic questions about Canada correctly, along with 47 per cent of similar questions about the U.S.

But the findings contain a couple of quirks. Although nearly four in 10 respondents picked out the Canadian author from a list containing Susanna Moodie, Jane Austen and Harriet Beecher Stowe, a third still chose Ms. Austen, known for her frock-coated chronicles of 18th- and 19th-century English society. Only marginally fewer pointed to Ms. Stowe, author of the abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, as a Canuck.

These results may not be as disheartening as they appear, at least for Canadians' knowledge of Canada per se. In the words of Russell Morton Brown, professor of English at the University of Toronto, they don't "show ignorance of Canadian literary history. They show ignorance of literary history."

But Canadians seem just as sharp about art as they are unenlightened about literature.

When asked to identify the American artist from the choices of David Hockney, A.Y. Jackson and Norman Rockwell, 76 per cent of respondents correctly selected the iconic Mr. Rockwell — the highest proportion of correct answers for any question about Canada or the U.S. Only 9 per cent fell for the trick of including Mr. Hockney, who has lived and worked in California for decades but is a British citizen.

Dr. Elizabeth Legge, an associate professor of art at U of T, said that "when I teach and I show a Rockwell, a lot of students don't know who Rockwell was." Whatever the implications of Dr. Legge's experience for the artistic knowledge of U of T students compared with to the rest of the population, she said she "is thrilled to know that somebody knows something about someone, somewhere."

In responses to the survey's other questions, "somebody" seldom included Quebeckers. Residents of la belle province consistently underperformed compared with Canadians elsewhere. Only 25 per cent of Quebec respondents could name Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, compared with 74 per cent of those in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. And only 25 per cent of Quebeckers could identify George Washington as the first U.S. president, a feat managed by 59 per cent of respondents in British Columbia.

Marc Chalifoux, executive director of the Dominion Institute, said the survey "certainly rings alarm bells" for Canadians' knowledge of their "fundamental institutions." He pointed in particular to success rates of 49 per cent for identifying the slogan most associated with Canada's Constitution ("peace, order and good government") and 21 per cent for knowing Canada's head of state (the Queen).

In both cases, the equivalent question for the U.S. garnered more correct answers.