85% per cent of Canadians see themselves as fundamentally different from Americans and only 13 per cent see a future scenario where Canada becomes part of the United States. "That's about the level of support for a flat Earth or believing Elvis is alive," says Peter Donolo of The Strategic Counsel. "People now take our independence for granted and see no risk."
Despite the claim by many in recent years that soccer is fast outstripping hockey in the hearts of Canadians, it just ain't so. Hockey is not only the most popular sport but also chosen as the country's mostrepresentative symbol, significantly ahead of both multiculturalism and medicare. Don Cherry will be saddened to learn, however, that most Canadians do not equate fighting with fun in their national game.
As for the other official national game, lacrosse, black armbands all around, please. Lacrosse matched cricket in popularity, with less than 1 per cent of Canadians selecting it as the game of choice. And as Donolo says, lacrosse and cricket appear to be "meeting going opposite directions."
Basketball isnít what the Toronto media seems to think it is. In national interest, it barely matches curling. And in the West, football comes in second to hockey, while in Quebec, second place behind beloved hockey goes to golf.
Canadians like to travel - 82 per cent having gone to the U. S. at some point and 40 per cent to Europe - and they like to tell the world who they are, with 54 per cent attaching the Canadian flag to their luggage. Quebeckers, who are less travelled, are far less inclined to stamp the red maple leaf on their Samsonites.
Bilingualism remains a great Canadian conundrum, with less than a quarter of the country seeing much proficiency out there but approximately half the country believing it important to speak both official languages.
Another contradiction concerns attitudes toward immigrants. " We pat ourselves on the back as to how tolerant we are," says Donolo, " and yet in the next breath we say there are too many immigrants coming into the country."
Dinner companions tell their own tale about tolerance, with per cent saying they had dined with a person with a different skin colour, 58 per cent sharing their table with an openly gay person and 32 per cent with a gay couple. On the opposite scale, only 6 per cent of Canadians have sat down to eat with an elected politician.
It is oddly comforting to know that the fastdisappearing Prairie elevator remains a far more beloved symbol of the country than the endlessly appearing BlackBerry.
In the Great Canadian Beauty Contest, the Rockies took first place, with 29 per cent choosing them, followed by Canadian forests and lakes, with Niagara Falls the highestranking single attraction.
Toronto, with a mere 1 per cent, might have taken the " Miss Congeniality" title - but the survey, unfortunately, was taken a few weeks before the garbage strike began.
When it comes to choosing the country's mostdistinctive buildings or objects, Parliament Hill came a surprising third after Niagara Falls and Toronto's CN Tower.
Roy MacGregor