Seventy-six percent say they support the decision to exit the negotiations with the United States. In a country where consensus on almost anything is rare, this one is close to unanimous: the decision is backed by a clear majority in every single province.

Quebec: Washington’s own goal

Nowhere is support higher than in Quebec, where more than eight-in-ten endorse Ottawa’s decision to leave the table.

That finding deserves more than passing attention. Among the biggest own goals of the Washington negotiators — some of whom would be content to see Canada split apart — was the decision to press for restrictions on bilingual packaging for goods entering Canada. It was a demand that struck at something Quebecers are not inclined to trade away.

The fact that Carney and his colleagues ended the negotiations on several points, this one among them, puts significant wind in the sails of federalists in Quebec. A negotiating position intended to extract concessions instead handed Ottawa a unifying moment in the one province where national unity is never a settled question.

Dollar for dollar: appetite for retaliation

The consensus does not stop at walking away. There is also substantial support for Canada embarking on retaliatory measures on a dollar-for-dollar basis — and again, that support holds near-constant across the country.

Alberta is the clearest illustration. In a province that has historically been the most reluctant about picking fights with its largest customer, those in favour of countervailing measures outnumber those who would prefer Canada hold its fire by five to one.

Canadians are aware of the Risks

Support for Canada’s actions on the trade front isn’t without significant concerns about the impact that a trade war will have on various aspect of life in Canada. The Angus Reid survey reveals fears about economic impacts at all levels – national, provincial and local community. Almost half of Canadians are concerned about the impact on their incomes and about one quarter about their job security.

Longer term

Despite these concerns about the impact of Canada’s decision to leave the table and implement counter tariff’s, a clear majority of those polled say that Canada will adapt and get through this storm. This is in contrast to about a third who agree with the statement that this will cause lasting harm to Canada’s economy.

What it means

Two things stand out. The first is the breadth of the agreement: not a plurality, not a regional coalition, but a supermajority that survives every provincial cut. The second is that Washington’s own demands did much of the work. The bilingual packaging provision was read in Canada not as a trade irritant but as an intrusion — and the reaction it produced was national, not regional.

Carney’s approval rating has dropped to 51% down nine points from his All-time high at the start of 2026. This is still a very strong showing since he is running well ahead of his party. But after 11 years of Liberal rule he is riding north on a Southbound horse.

The most important element which propelled the federal liberals to power in 2025 was the movement of massive numbers of former NDP voters to the Liberal camp largely because of the Trump threat. Whether these voters will stay or switch back Is an open question. I suspect that pipelines, a cosy relationship with Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith and the rumoured unhappiness of the environmental wing of the Liberal party I have a lot to do with this. Stay tuned.

Ironically, Trump’s focus on this issue has led about 50% to say they support supply management “even if it means retaliation from the US” (https://angusreid.org/canada-hard-line-trade-stance/)

Graph below from 2017

The reason for this very large disparity is because so much wealth in America is in the hands of individuals with massive wealth at the top of US society. That pulls the American average far above most other countries, except Switzerland. But in some respect, a far better measure is the median wealth of adults. Here the picture shows the reality of poverty in America.

The political implications of this are becoming increasingly clear as the Democratic Party moves to the left with one of its major planks aimed towards ultra rich Americans, who in their view have received enormous tax and other benefits.

(source - UBS 2026 Global Wealth Report)

Men under 55 account for the overwhelming share of bettors, with more than one-in-five in that group having placed a wager in the past year. Women's participation trails significantly across all age groups. Ontario, the first province to open its market to private operators, leads regionally at 15%. Alberta — set to follow suit in July — sits at 14%, tied with B.C.

For most bettors, money and entertainment drive participation in roughly equal measure: 57% say they bet hoping to make money, 51% cite entertainment, and one-in-three say it makes games more exciting. But the social costs are registering. Nearly three-in-10 Canadians say they are worried that someone they know has developed a betting addiction.

That 28% figure rises to 37% among men aged 18–34 — precisely the group most likely to be betting themselves. Of those worried about someone in their life, 81% say that person is male. One-in-five parents of children aged 10 to 17 say their child has already asked them about sports betting.

The picture broadens further when Canadians are asked not about individuals they know, but about the population at large. Here, the concern is near-universal.

Nearly seven-in-10 Canadians believe the number of problem gamblers will grow as sports betting continues to expand — a view held even by many bettors themselves (46%), though far more sharply by non-bettors (72%). A recent Ontario study found that the expansion of online gambling and single-event betting was associated with substantial increases in gambling-related helpline contacts, particularly among adolescent boys and young men.

Three-in-five Canadians acknowledge that regulated betting generates valuable government revenue — Ontario alone recorded $724 million in sports betting revenue in 2024/25. But when asked to render an overall verdict, Canadians are unambiguous: 46% say the growth of sports betting is a bad or terrible thing, against just 8% who call it good or great. The industry's challenge, and government's, is that the revenue and the risk are proving very hard to separate.

Methodology: Online survey, May 7–11, 2026. Randomized sample of 1,803 Canadian adults drawn from the Angus Reid Forum. Weighted to census benchmarks. Margin of error ±2 percentage points, 19 times in 20. Self-commissioned by Angus Reid.full report, questionnaire and detailed tables at angusreid.org

What happened? COVID and Trump. The first set in motion spiralling costs for everyday essentials like food and housing. Trump not only wrecked the long-standing relationship between Canada and the United States, but his disdain for any policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gases rendered Canadian climate measures, like carbon pricing, largely irrelevant. If our next-door neighbour is burning massive bonfires, what difference does the size of our campfire really make?

This dramatic shift in public opinion is almost certainly a factor in Prime Minister Carney’s push for a second pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast. But he also has to manage a bloc of as many as 50 Liberal MPs who believe he has abandoned the environment as a top priority. The seesaw between a sizeable chunk of his caucus and a public preoccupied with other concerns may prove to be a major stress point for Carney through the second year of his term and beyond.

• Trudeau approval falls to lowest level ever - now just 22%. Even worse: 51% of his 2021 voter base day they disapprove of his performance has Prime Minister.

• If an election were held tomorrow, our results show the liberals trailing the NDP by five percentage points with only 16% of the popular vote. The CPC moves up to 45% with the NDP at 21%

• The dire position of Trudeau’s Liberals is further underscored by our finding that only about 1/3 of the 16% say they are firmly committed to vote Liberal - that compares to 66% of CPC supporters.

• A majority (59%) of current Liberal supporters say that Trudeau should resign immediately. Only about 30% say he should stay on to fight, the rest say he should call an election immediately.

Clearly the Trudeau era is over. In 2015 he declared that his leadership didn’t require a traditional political party, and instead he was creating a movement of which he would be leader. Based on the events of the last few weeks, his movement has spoken. They want him gone.

And what about the fate of the liberal party after Trudeau resigns? Later this week will report on potential leadership candidates, and how if at all they might change the fortunes of the most successful political party in Canada since confederation,

Four results of our poll are available at angusreid.org or paste this link:

https://angusreid.org/liberals-prime-minister-trudeau-resign-election-2025-poilievre-singh/