Poll: 95% of Canadians don’t trust politicians


Julian Wolfe
July 3rd, 2012


Pessimism and distain in Canadian politics is as notable as the voter turnout and the apathy related to the outrageous scandals that surface. A new  Ipsos-Reid poll reveals that my cynicism of politicians isn’t rare and goes on to confirm other polls showing disappointment for all politicians.

The online survey for Postmedia News found that 95% of respondents felt that politicians were disconnected from the aspirations of the average people. At the same time, the poll found that a strong majority didn’t trust politicians – especially those in federal and provincial jurisdiction. The last point found that Canadians felt that we pay taxes that are much higher than they should be and that we don’t get value for them in return.

If this wasn’t enough of an indicator, at a French Language summit in Quebec City, Stephen Harper was interrupted by an angry protestor who walked in the room and yelled, “Stop Harper, stop Jean Charest.”

The protestor continues.

“Citizens rise up. We need you, everybody.”

The over 1,500 attendees, mostly youth, applauded him while he was being taken out of the conference by security.

The poll sounds about right: we pay much higher taxes than their worth, none of the current political options federally and provincially are viable options to form a good government and politicians appear to be too engaged in personal gain to care about the lives of average Canadians.

It’s even come to the point where some pundits have pointed to the formation of a new political party but as we can see, the bad reputation of politics isn’t immune to anybody.

What do you think? Do you trust politicians or do you think we are overcharged and overruled? Is it time to demand a refund and ask the government to get out of people’s lives?

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   Categories: Public Opinion, Taxes

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