Atlantic: Nationwide, 42 per cent of parents say their kids are stressed about going back to school. The prospect of new teachers and homework can have that effect, it seems. But in Atlantic Canada, most parents feel their kids are feeling fine about getting back to the books. Just 22 per cent of parents there report back-to-school stress.
Quebec: In the wake of Jack Layton’s death, few Canadians feel the NDP will be able to find a leader with similar strengths. Except in Quebec—the scene of last election’s much-discussed “orange wave” of NDP support—where 34 per cent feel the NDP will either “definitely” or “probably” find a new leader as strong as Layton.
Ontario: Ontarians, it seems, have the bleakest outlook in the country. In a recent poll, 59 per cent agreed that “things were better 20 years ago”—the highest of all provinces (Alberta was the lowest, at 46 per cent). They’re also most likely to concur with the statement: “I’m mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore.” Thirty per cent of Ontario residents share that anger, compared with 22 per cent nationally.
Alberta: Although some slammed the military’s “royal” renaming as a colonial throwback and retrograde step, most Canadians, it turns out, approve of the government’s decision. Nowhere is approval as strong as it is in Alberta, where support for the renamed Royal Canadian Air Force is sky-high. Eighty per cent of Albertans either “strongly agree” or “agree” with the decision to return the “royal” to the three main branches of the Canadian military.
British Columbia: A new poll finds that 76 per cent of people in B.C. think texting or emailing while driving is just as dangerous as driving drunk. Half of British Columbians, meanwhile, believe that simply talking on a hand-held device is as risky as drinking and driving.
Sources: Ipsos Reid, Harris-Decima, Abacus Data, Angus Reid