Alberta's natural wonders popular, its people not so much: national poll

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Alberta’s natural beauty gets top marks among Canadians, but the province’s people and politics are a drag, suggests a national poll.

The Leger online survey of 1,561 people found Alberta to be the second-favourite province or territory among respondents, but it was also runner-up as the least-favourite part of Canada, after B.C. and Quebec respectively.

Twelve per cent of those polled Aug. 19 to 21 cited Alberta as their favourite province, with just under half of those tagging its landscapes and wildlife as the top reasons, while opportunities and things to do captured 24 per cent.

But 47 per cent of those turning thumbs-down on the province pointed to its people as the main detraction, followed by those contending Alberta is “boring” at 19 per cent.

Those negative views of Albertans are entangled with the province’s right-wing politics of national discontent and the perceptions of those behind them, said a Leger spokesman.

“The feeling is, ‘I love the nature but the people get in the way,'” said Leger executive vice-president Andrew Enns.

“My first reaction is it’s a bit of that perceived right-wing conservative edge, the redneck description that drives that dislike.”

The poll was conducted a few days before a man in Grande Prairie confronted Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and berated her with obscenities on Friday.

The Alberta-born Freeland was told by the man and a female partner that she should stay away from the province.

Enns’ assessment is probably accurate, said Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams, who believes the constant refrain of grievance coming from Alberta and the prominent figures in the province espousing it isn’t endearing to many other Canadians.

“It’s the first thing (Canadians) know and associate with Alberta . . . it’s combined with the (perception of the) prosperity of Alberta,” said Williams, adding some of the leaders of the freedom convoy movement hail from Alberta.

“For (negative perceptions of) Quebec, it’s seen as a lack of awareness of other provinces and that their taxes are being paid by other Canadians.”

The poll showed 49 per cent of those who viewed Quebec badly cited its people as the reason. Far lower percentages of responders cited people as a negative in other provinces.

The negative views of Albertans don’t accurately reflect the majority of the population whose viewpoints are usually more moderate, said Williams.

“But that perception exists because it’s what’s getting coverage of who Albertans are, they’re hearing it on the news every day,” she said.

“People who usually comment on Alberta say the people are friendly.”

Even so, Quebec surpasses Alberta as a “very serious threat to national unity,” by 29 per cent to 16 per cent among those polled.

Despite the pro-sovereignty talk infusing the Alberta UCP leadership race, “there’s still more Canadians leaning toward Quebec being more of a dominant driver (of disunity) — the historical track record of Quebec feeds into that,” said Enns.

And the poll shows Albertans don’t think much of the province’s push to change the federal-provincial relationship or that it’ll bear much fruit, with 27 per cent strongly supportive of those stances, while 29 per cent are vehemently opposed and another 28 per cent don’t know.

“Even as (UCP leadership front-runner Danielle Smith) has put forward some pretty radical positions, it hasn’t captured the hearts and minds at this stage,” said Enns, adding the results could also reflect a mood of weariness and apathy after a few difficult years.

“It might be, ‘we’re coming out of a pandemic — can’t we just enjoy the summer?’ ”

Smith said her proposed sovereignty act, which has been criticized by other leadership candidates, would allow Alberta to not “enforce any federal law that violates our provincial jurisdiction or the rights of our citizens.”

Only nine per cent of Albertans polled said their province’s efforts to change how Canada is governed are “very likely to succeed,” while 43 per cent of respondents in the province indicated they were doubtful they’d have any effect.

“They have a hard time seeing Alberta making any headway on this . . . there’s not a lot of intensity around (Alberta and Quebec) agitating to promote their interests,” said Enns.

One in 10 Canadians support the positions taken by Alberta and Quebec to change the country’s governance in relation to the provinces, the poll found.

The poll’s margin of error is 2.5 per cent 19 times out of 20, says Leger.

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn