Canadians’ trust in doctors surges

OTTAWA • An annual survey looking at who Canadians trust most suggests the COVID-19 pandemic has given Canadians almost absolute trust in doctors, while trust in corporate leaders and the media has plummeted to all-time lows.

The Proof Strategies CanTrust Index is usually completed in January, but when Canada went into lockdown, the firm decided to ask some of the same questions again in early May.

In January, the survey found 76 per cent of Canadians trusted doctors, and 70 per cent trusted scientists. When repeated May 1 and May 2, the online survey of 1,000 people saw trust in doctors shoot up to 87 per cent and trust in scientists to 82 per cent.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error as they are not random and not necessarily representative of the whole population.

Proof CEO Bruce Maclellan said Canadians have long put a lot of faith in doctors and scientists but he was surprised to see how much that has increased since COVID-19 hit Canada.

“Trust for doctors and scientists was leading all other places in our trust survey, but now it’s really gone into the trust stratosphere, if you will, in terms of how highly trusted these individuals have become,” Maclellan said. “It’s truly remarkable. We have not seen that level of trust in any individual, organization or institution at all in our past research.”

The Proof index showed governments have also benefited from a bump in confidence, with 33 per cent of those surveyed expressing trust in government in January, and 40 per cent in early May. Maclellan said that is likely because as the pandemic marched in, Canadians realized maybe more than ever how much they were going to rely on government to get through it.

“They see the pandemic as an issue that is going to require government to solve,” he said.

Small businesses, non-profits and charities, all saw a bounce in trust. Trust in the media, CEOS and teachers, on the other hand, has fallen.

The news media had been enjoying a comeback of confidence in January, with 44 per cent of those surveyed trusting media, up from 40 a year earlier. But in the midst of the pandemic, trust in media has plummeted to just 33 per cent.

CEOS similarly saw trust fall to an all-time low of just 30 per cent, down from 38 per cent in January and 55 per cent two years ago.

Educators remain among the more trusted in our society, at 59 per cent, but that was down from 65 per cent in January.