Many Canadians like to tell 'white lies' about home-cooked meals: survey

A woman runs Valluno's Colombian Street Food and More from her home, makes empanadas in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Have you ever had to lie about the quality of a home-cooked meal to protect someone's feelings? According to a new survey by Research Co. you’re not the only one.

About one in three Canadians (32 per cent) admitted they will lie about the quality of a home-cooked meal and say they enjoyed it, when they actually did not.

Surprisingly, the proportion is higher among women (35 per cent) and Atlantic Canadians (40 per cent).

When it comes to meeting new people, 24 per cent of Canadians said they gave out a fake phone number or email address to a person they were not interested in talking to again—a proportion that rises to 29 per cent among women.

According to the survey, 22 per cent of Canadians said they’ve lied about when they would arrive when they were going to be late, 21 per cent falsely claimed their phone had no battery when someone attempted to contact them and 20 per cent lied about the cost of something they purchased.

“There are practically no gender or age differences across Canada when it comes to withholding financial details from a significant other,” Research Co. president Mario Canseco said in a news release on Wednesday. “People of all ages appear to have the same propensity to lie in this situation.”

When asked about how much money they make, 21 per cent of respondents admitted they have not been truthful with others while 16 per cent have lied about their age and 15 per cent have not been honest about where they live.

According to the survey, fewer Canadians (12 per cent) have fibbed about whether they are dating someone, while six per cent lied about whether they have a spouse.

Additionally, 10 per cent of Canadians have not been honest about their past job experience, while five per cent lied about where they were born.

The survey also found Quebecers are most likely to have lied about dating someone (16 per cent), while the proportion is 13 per cent in British Columbia, 11 per cent in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, eight per cent in Alberta and seven per cent in Atlantic Canada.

Methodology:

The survey was conducted from March 10, to March 12, among 1,000 Canadians. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.

 

Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.