Political Identities in Western Canada: An Analysis of the Looking West 2006 Survey Print this page

Executive Summary

Conducted in February and March 2006, the Looking West 2006 Survey included a wide range of questions on public policy priorities, political identity, and democratic participation and attitudes.

The objective of the survey is to help western Canadians and their governments better understand the opinions and attitudes of western Canadians. Political Identities in Western Canada presents an analysis of the political identity data. The public policy data can be found in Consistent Priorities, released by the Canada West Foundation in May 2006. The democratic attitudes and behaviours data can be found in Democracy in Western Canada, released by the Foundation in July 2006. Both reports are available at www.cwf.ca.

Key political identity findings of the Looking West 2006 Survey include:

·         The data collected suggest that geographic identities matter more than personal identities: respondents are more likely to identify with their country, province, local community or region than they are to identify with their age peers, or people who share their ethnic background, religion or faith, or political beliefs.

·         Western Canadians report very similar levels of national and provincial identities. Simply put, western Canadians identify with their provinces as much as they identify with Canada as a whole.

·         The high number of respondents who identify with western Canada as a region is striking, particularly given that the region does not have an institutional form or political role. Over 6 in 10 western Canadians identify closely or very closely with western Canada as a region, placing regional identities just behind local identities.

·         The strongest form of personal identity is age, with over 5 in 10 western Canadians closely or very closely identifying with people who are close to them in age.

·         Ethnic background is another important form of personal identity, with 4 in 10 western Canadians stating that they closely or very closely identify with people who share their ethnic background.

·         Over one-third of western Canadians report that they closely or very closely identify with people who share their religion or faith. At the same time, almost one-quarter expressed no identification ("not at all close") based on religion or faith—a higher number of no identification responses than any other personal identity category.

·         When asked to place themselves on a five-point left-right political spectrum, western Canadians' survey responses formed a near-perfect bell curve. About 50% of respondents categorize themselves as a 3 (centre), 15% categorize themselves as either a 2 (somewhat left of centre) or a 4 (somewhat right of centre), and 7% of respondents categorize themselves as either a 1 (very left of centre) or a 5 (very right of centre). Less than 5% of respondents report that these political categories do not apply to them. Provincial differences, to the extent that they exist, are extremely modest and fail to fulfill stereotypes.

Author(s): Dr. Loleen Berdahl

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