Despite the fact that one in six Quebecers consume cannabis and a historic perception that the province is more liberal than English-speaking Canada, several nationwide public opinion surveys this year have shown that Quebec is more opposed to legalisation than other provinces.
A survey by Manitoba-based NRG research group in March revealed Quebecers are the most likely to oppose legalization, with only 37 per cent of respondents being in favour. An IPSOS poll released one month later corroborated this trend, indicating that only 53 per cent of Quebecers support legalizationthe lowest percentage of all provinces surveyed. This showed a significant drop in support from their survey two years prior on the topic, when 60 per cent of the province was in favour.
Finally, a CROP survey ran in May for Radio-Canadaafter the unveiling of the federal pot plan on April 13specifically pitted the Quebec public against the rest of Canada and showed that only 40 per cent of Quebecers were strongly or somewhat in favour of legalization, compared to 58 per cent of other Canadians.
Why then, do Quebecers consistently demonstrate such pessimism? According to the pollsters, there are several issues at play.
Alain Guigure, CROP president, admitted that he was initially surprised at the result, given that many of the social issues his company has studiedfrom gay rights to abortionhave shown Quebec to have tolerant, open attitudes.
However, the detailed breakdown of his findings consistently showed that Quebecs low scores related to an overall preoccupation with health. He also speculated that English-speaking Canada has been more exposed to news coming out of the US, where recreational pot is legal in California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington. While a health issue in Quebec, in English Canada it became banal, he said.
Sebastien Dallaire, vice president at IPSOS Public Affairs, echoed his fellow pollster, saying that the media cycle plays a large role in the seemingly counter-intuitive results. Traditionally, in Quebec, news coverage focuses more on provincial politics rather than national politics, he said. He agreed that the cannabis debate has been a bit more balanced in the rest of Canada and inextricably linked to whats been happening in the United States, and how there were no massive negative effects.
According to Dallaire, the debate in Quebec has been more negative, with less spotlight on the states, focusing instead on the reaction of the provincial government, the provincial stakeholders and the opposition party.
Andrew Enns of NRG group said that it was not surprising to see different results coming out of Quebec, harking back to Quebecs historical quest for self-determination. He suggested that perhaps the provinces more liberal approach on alcohol distribution and sale may have people worried the same model would be applied to cannabis.
Convenience store chain Couche-Tard and the Societs dAlcool de Quebec have both vocalized their desire to stock recreational ...
