Quebecers' Remembrances Of World War II Participation Mixed
Randy Boswell, The Gazette (Montreal), 10 Nov. 2004
A national survey of attitudes toward war on the eve of Remembrance Day has revealed a sharp division between Quebec and the rest of the country on the merits of Canada's participation in the Second World War, and on the probable cause of any future global conflict.
In a poll of 2,027 Canadians conducted by Environics for the Association for Canadian Studies, respondents from Quebec were about three times as likely to say Canada showed too much support for the war effort against Nazi Germany and its allies.
And only Quebecers ranked U.S. foreign policy ahead of Middle East terrorism as the No. 1 threat to spark the next world war.
The survey will be discussed at an academic conference this week in Montreal that coincides with Remembrance Day. A poll of this size is considered accurate to within 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
Jack Jedwab, a McGill University historian and executive director of ACS, said the results make clear the idea"sometimes war is necessary" is considerably less accepted in Quebec than in other parts of the country.
One part of the survey asked respondents whether the introduction of conscription - mandatory military service - toward the end of the Second World War was the right policy for Canada.
Nearly one-quarter of Quebecers - 24 per cent - said the introduction of conscription"showed too much support for the war effort." Just 12 per cent of respondents from Atlantic Canada agreed with that statement, and the results were even lower elsewhere: seven per cent in Ontario, nine per cent in the Prairies and five per cent in B.C.
Conscription was particularly contentious in Quebec during the Second World War, as it had been during the First World War when many French-Canadians viewed that conflict as a battle between European empires that had little to do with North America.
The survey does indicate a majority of all Canadians - including Quebecers - believe Canada's conscription policy showed"the right amount of support" during the Second World War. Ontarians were strongest in that view - 80 per cent - while 58 per cent of Quebecers agreed conscription was an appropriate measure.
Jedwab said Quebecers' relatively distinct perspective on the Second World War is partly explained by their stronger aversion to war in general. In a separate question about whether respondents believed war is"an outdated way of settling differences between nations," 73 per cent of Quebecers agreed with that statement. No other region topped 55 per cent.
In the question about the possibility of a future world war, respondents were asked:"In the event that another world war breaks out, which of the following do you believe will be the main cause?"
The options were Middle Eastern terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, the growth of an Asian superpower or Third World poverty.
Forty-two per cent of Quebecers said blame would lie with U.S. foreign policy compared with 36 per cent who chose Middle Eastern terrorism.
A national survey of attitudes toward war on the eve of Remembrance Day has revealed a sharp division between Quebec and the rest of the country on the merits of Canada's participation in the Second World War, and on the probable cause of any future global conflict.
In a poll of 2,027 Canadians conducted by Environics for the Association for Canadian Studies, respondents from Quebec were about three times as likely to say Canada showed too much support for the war effort against Nazi Germany and its allies.
And only Quebecers ranked U.S. foreign policy ahead of Middle East terrorism as the No. 1 threat to spark the next world war.
The survey will be discussed at an academic conference this week in Montreal that coincides with Remembrance Day. A poll of this size is considered accurate to within 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
Jack Jedwab, a McGill University historian and executive director of ACS, said the results make clear the idea"sometimes war is necessary" is considerably less accepted in Quebec than in other parts of the country.
One part of the survey asked respondents whether the introduction of conscription - mandatory military service - toward the end of the Second World War was the right policy for Canada.
Nearly one-quarter of Quebecers - 24 per cent - said the introduction of conscription"showed too much support for the war effort." Just 12 per cent of respondents from Atlantic Canada agreed with that statement, and the results were even lower elsewhere: seven per cent in Ontario, nine per cent in the Prairies and five per cent in B.C.
Conscription was particularly contentious in Quebec during the Second World War, as it had been during the First World War when many French-Canadians viewed that conflict as a battle between European empires that had little to do with North America.
The survey does indicate a majority of all Canadians - including Quebecers - believe Canada's conscription policy showed"the right amount of support" during the Second World War. Ontarians were strongest in that view - 80 per cent - while 58 per cent of Quebecers agreed conscription was an appropriate measure.
Jedwab said Quebecers' relatively distinct perspective on the Second World War is partly explained by their stronger aversion to war in general. In a separate question about whether respondents believed war is"an outdated way of settling differences between nations," 73 per cent of Quebecers agreed with that statement. No other region topped 55 per cent.
In the question about the possibility of a future world war, respondents were asked:"In the event that another world war breaks out, which of the following do you believe will be the main cause?"
The options were Middle Eastern terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, the growth of an Asian superpower or Third World poverty.
Forty-two per cent of Quebecers said blame would lie with U.S. foreign policy compared with 36 per cent who chose Middle Eastern terrorism.