🍁Happy Sunday, dear 338Canada readers,
Associate E.U. Member > 51st State? Canadians sure seem to think so — even though the details of what this new Canada-E.U. arrangement would entail remain unclear.
Nevertheless, recent polling shows that building closer ties with Europe, especially to reduce Canada’s dependence on the U.S., is highly popular among Canadian voters.
Let’s dig into the numbers. Welcome to the 338 Sunday Update.
From last week’s Abacus Data federal poll:
In general, would you support or oppose Canada becoming a member state of the European Union?
While Canada joining the European Union as a full-fledged member does not appear to have ever been in the cards, responses to this question reveal fascinating regional differences.
Majorities of respondents in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario say they would support the idea, while Canadians living in the Prairies and Atlantic Canada are far more divided.
Nationally, 49% of respondents would welcome Canada becoming a member state of the E.U., while 30% would oppose it. While this 19-point advantage is not negligible, we can hardly conclude that there is a national consensus on the question.
As mentioned above, this poll was fielded before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen invited Canada to work toward becoming the E.U.’s first “associate member.” With the details of such an arrangement still undefined, we will keep an eye on how Canadians react as more information becomes available.
However, when it comes to closer economic integration and cooperation with the European Union, the numbers show an overwhelming majority of Canadians in every region would welcome it.
🍁338Canada = Canadian politics by the numbers.
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