Millennials view Canada in much different light
Pollster calls it a sea change in thinking, dubs young Canadians ‘the new Quebec’
Veteran pollster Angus Reid has spent time studying issues he believes will shape Canada’s future, and his findings on younger Canadians may raise some eyebrows.
In an interview Wednesday, Reid explained some of the key themes he will discuss in a Thursday speech in Vancouver, on what he calls, “The New Canada.”
Reid said after combing through polls completed for the Angus Reid Institute on issues such as immigration, family, faith and morality, he was struck most by the differences between millennials, or those aged 18 to 34, and other Canadians.
For example, when asked about their emotional attachment to Canada, 73 per cent of those over 55 answered in ways that indicated a passionate bond with the country. But only 48 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 demonstrated the same love for Canada, Reid said. Quebecers showed similar low levels of attachment in past polls, Reid said, but recently have demonstrated a greater connection to Canada.
“The findings are very striking, a sea change in the way Millennials see the country,” Reid said. “Millennial Canadians are the new Quebec.”
Reid said he believes younger Canadians have developed different attitudes on nationality because they digest the majority of their news and information from the Internet. As consumption of local, Canadian news sources decreases, especially among younger Canadians, most millennials are consuming a globally-sourced diet of information.
Only 27 per cent of millennials have subscribed to a newspaper, according to polls. And possibly in connection with studies that show the rise of so-called “fake news” proliferating online, a majority of younger Canadians also told pollsters that most news cannot be trusted, Reid said.
The differences between millennials and other Canadians extend to views on the importance of owning a home, accepting one’s family, and appreciation for diversity in society.
For Canadians over 35, 60 per cent say owning their own home is very important. For millennials, only 40 per cent say the same. It is possible that skyrocketing home prices are part of the reason for less home-ownership interest in younger Canadians, Reid said.
“It could be a lot of people have just given up.”
On the definition of family, while most Canadians say “family” means the group one is born into, about two-thirds of millennials told pollsters “you can choose your own family,” Reid said.
While millennials don’t display the same opinions about country, family and home that other Canadians do, Reid said, in comparison, they are more accepting of immigration, refugees, and social diversity.
Overall, Canadians have become more insistent that immigrants should do more to fit in with the mainstream of Canada, Reid said.
In 1991, 59 per cent of Canadians said immigrants should do more to fit in. In 2016, 68 per cent of Canadians held the same view.
But for millennials, just 47 per cent said immigrants should change their ways to better match the Canadian mainstream.
Reid said that as Canada’s policy is now to receive about 300,000 immigrants per year, the highest per capita intake in the world, he believes his findings on immigration will be of interest to policy-makers. The same goes for his findings on the environment vs. economic growth, family and home ownership, he said.
“With millennials, we are dealing with a very unique group of citizens whose voice is very different from older Canadians,” Reid said.
“This is about the various threads that bond people to a society.”
The Angus Reid Institute is a national, not-for-profit organization commissioning research and opinion polls on Canadian issues.