THREE-IN-FOUR Canadians are endorsing the Carney government’s decision to walk away from trade negotiations with the United States late Friday night, confirming that long-expressed national resolve and desire to see Canadian negotiators take a “hard line” with Washington was more than theoretical.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds that support for Ottawa’s stance is at majority levels in every province in the country, bottoming out at 65 per cent in Saskatchewan and 67 per cent in Alberta.
There is also more agreement than one typically finds across the political spectrum. Half (53%) of those who voted Conservative in the 2025 federal election say it was “right” to walk away rather than accept a bad deal.
There is also strong backing for the dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that have been threatened against the U.S. but not yet implemented pending a September 8 deadline, with three-in-five (62%) calling Canada’s counter-tariffs “about right under the circumstances”.
But serious worries about job loss temper the defiance. One-in-eight (13%) Canadian workers say they are “very” concerned about losing their own job, with a further 25 per cent expressing some level of anxiety. This, as industry experts predict a no-deal situation for Canada will cost the economy 0.4 per cent of GDP and as many as 90,000 jobs.
That said, most (64%) do believe the country will emerge from this challenging time stronger as Canada reduces its dependence on the United States. One-quarter (26%) disagree and worry it will be difficult to overcome the damage to the relationship with Canada’s most important trading partner.
More Key Findings:
- Three-in-five (59%) say Canada had little (47%) or no (12%) control over “whether an acceptable trade agreement was reached with the United States”.
- Seven-in-ten (69%), including nearly all 2025 Liberal voters (95%), most NDP voters (76%) and two-in-five (43%) CPC voters, say Carney showed “strength by refusing to accept terms he believed were not in Canada’s interests”. One-in-five Canadians (19%), and two-in-five (43%) past CPC voters, say instead he showed “poor judgement” in not getting a deal done with further compromises.
- Nine-in-ten (89%) are “very concerned” (41%) or concerned (48%) that the escalating trade dispute will have an impact on the cost of goods and services in Canada. A similar number (88%) worry over the impact on Canada’s economy as a whole.
