Provinces’ performance on key health file in massive decline

As fear over COVID-19 dissipates, Canadians’ focus is turning to the health-care system, and most are not impressed by what they see.

New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds most Canadians – three-quarters (72 per cent) – critical of their respective provincial government’s handling of the health-care system. Indeed, the number of Canadians who say their province is managing health well (25 per cent) is at its lowest point in eight years of tracking by ARI. Meanwhile, half (52 per cent) identify health care as a top-three priority for their province.

Across the country, at least two-thirds in every province say their government is doing a poor job on health care. The most praise is offered in Saskatchewan (30 per cent) and Nova Scotia (30 per cent), but positive opinions in those two provinces are outnumbered by negative ones by two-to-one.

More Key Findings:

• Fewer than one-in-ten (7 per cent) Canadians now select COVID-19 as a top provincial issue. Last year, one-third (33 per cent) believed handling the pandemic was a top concern for their province.

• A majority of every demographic says their provincial government is handling health care poorly, but women are much more negative than men on the matter. At least three-quarters of women of all ages believe their provincial government has done a poor job on health.

• At least two-in-five in every province believe health care to be a top-three provincial issue. The rising cost of living is the only other issue to be selected at that rate across the country.