Sent February 13th, 2024
Greetings,
I just finished looking through the 2024 Proof Strategies CanTrust Index and I am
disappointed the Canadian Monarchy was not polled as an institution nor the
individuals close to it. This is all the more disappointing as the institutions you polled
included the judicial system and parliament as well as the prime minister and opposition leaders. You polled trust in the electoral system and you polled whether
people thought political parties were divisive. Your choice of topics was otherwise
thorough which makes this omission all the more glaring.
My concern is that by omitting this institution repeatedly over the years you have left a
blind spot in your conclusions. For instance, is faith in our political leaders at the
federal level declining whether the person is elected or not? We can't tell! We can only
make inferences from the survey question on trust for the Supreme Court.
Finally, there is the matter of past research on generalized trust (which you dealt with
on page 10). In 2006 Christian Bjørnskov published his research on generalized trust
(Determinants of generalized trust: A cross-country comparison). The study
had several interesting findings but specifically it showed a strong link between a
country having a monarchy and high levels of generalized trust. If you were polling the
monarchy, we might be able to determine causality (does heightened trust lead to
higher support for monarchy, does heightened trust raise support for monarchy -or-
does the monarchy heighten both?).
I hope I have at least raised enough curiosity in you that you will consider including the
monarchy in next year's polling.
Sincerely,
[Name Redacted] UE
Greetings,
I just finished looking through the 2024 Proof Strategies CanTrust Index and I am
disappointed the Canadian Monarchy was not polled as an institution nor the
individuals close to it. This is all the more disappointing as the institutions you polled
included the judicial system and parliament as well as the prime minister and opposition leaders. You polled trust in the electoral system and you polled whether
people thought political parties were divisive. Your choice of topics was otherwise
thorough which makes this omission all the more glaring.
My concern is that by omitting this institution repeatedly over the years you have left a
blind spot in your conclusions. For instance, is faith in our political leaders at the
federal level declining whether the person is elected or not? We can't tell! We can only
make inferences from the survey question on trust for the Supreme Court.
Finally, there is the matter of past research on generalized trust (which you dealt with
on page 10). In 2006 Christian Bjørnskov published his research on generalized trust
(Determinants of generalized trust: A cross-country comparison). The study
had several interesting findings but specifically it showed a strong link between a
country having a monarchy and high levels of generalized trust. If you were polling the
monarchy, we might be able to determine causality (does heightened trust lead to
higher support for monarchy, does heightened trust raise support for monarchy -or-
does the monarchy heighten both?).
I hope I have at least raised enough curiosity in you that you will consider including the
monarchy in next year's polling.
Sincerely,
[Name Redacted] UE
Received February 15th, 2024
Hello Mr. [Name Redacted],
We appreciate you taking the time to review our newest CanTrust Index and share
these observations.
We are proud to publish the only long term tracking research study on trust and
Canada and our unique features. As you note, we study the key institutions, population
segments, sources, leaders and more.
For your interest, I am a strong believer in the benefits to Canada of our Constitutional
Monarchy.
Over the years of research, we have on occasion included the Governor General, as the
representative of the Crown. We have seen some variations with who is in that office.
Due to space constraints, we sometimes skip a year.
In general, we find trust is lower in cases where awareness is low. With the monarchy, it
just isn’t top of mind for many Canadians.
You have raised our curiosity, as you note, and I hope to explore this area further in
future.
Thanks again,
Bruce MacLellan
Chair,
Proof Strategies Inc.
Hello Mr. [Name Redacted],
We appreciate you taking the time to review our newest CanTrust Index and share
these observations.
We are proud to publish the only long term tracking research study on trust and
Canada and our unique features. As you note, we study the key institutions, population
segments, sources, leaders and more.
For your interest, I am a strong believer in the benefits to Canada of our Constitutional
Monarchy.
Over the years of research, we have on occasion included the Governor General, as the
representative of the Crown. We have seen some variations with who is in that office.
Due to space constraints, we sometimes skip a year.
In general, we find trust is lower in cases where awareness is low. With the monarchy, it
just isn’t top of mind for many Canadians.
You have raised our curiosity, as you note, and I hope to explore this area further in
future.
Thanks again,
Bruce MacLellan
Chair,
Proof Strategies Inc.
