Canadians divided on whether the West has legitimate beef with feds

By Amanda Connolly

Canadians are no less divided now than they were just after the election, according to a new Ipsos poll exclusively for Global News.

And while clear majorities of respondents in the Prairie provinces say they “have good reason to be mad about how they are treated by the federal government,” only about half of Canadians say they agree.

More than 80 per cent of respondents in Alberta and 70 per cent in Saskatchewan and Manitoba said their provinces have legitimate beef with Ottawa.

In contrast, 47 per cent of respondents nationwide said the same.

That number is unchanged since polling done at the tail end of a divisive election campaign that saw anger and separatism spike in the West and remain despite repeated acknowledgements by the Liberals, including in the throne speech, of the legitimacy of those sentiments.

The discrepancy in the poll could suggest the concerns of those in the Prairies just aren’t resonating with Canadians elsewhere.

“Unfortunately, Canadians don’t want to hear about the problems of other Canadians because they have their own,” said Sean Simpson, vice president of public affairs at Ipsos.

“In British Columbia, they’re struggling with housing prices; in Ontario, manufacturing jobs are being lost; in Eastern Canada, they’re struggling to keep their employees in Atlantic Canada and not moving to other parts of Canada or the United States.

full story at https://globalnews.ca/news/6312580/western-alienation-ipsos-poll/