Quebecers are losing trust in their institutions and each other: poll

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Quebecers are having trust issues: they trust the media, the government and even each other less than they did 10 years ago, a new survey shows.

The poll by the Trust Institute (Institut de la confiance) – an independent think-thank promoting trust in organizations – had staggering responses.

As the province grapples with the threat of a mass exodus of doctors after passing a special law reforming how they work, 68 per cent of Quebecers say their trust in the health-care system has dropped. Another 65 per cent say they trust the government less than they did 10 years ago.

Artificial intelligence is another major source of distrust as many Quebecers feel AI will lower their job opportunities – 76 per cent of young people say so. They worry AI will fuel inequality and want Quebec to develop legal frameworks to control it.

Young people are especially worried about the future: they worry they won’t have access to housing (89 per cent) and that the job market is shrinking.

Just under 85 per cent of young respondents say they are worried about economic instability, 81 per cent are concerned about the climate crisis and its impact on their futures while 73 per cent are noticing increasing socioeconomic inequality.

As the “media crisis” deepens with news organizations being under-funded, Quebecers are also skeptical of the media they consume, with 68 per cent saying they have less trust in media than they did in 2015. That includes mainstream media and social media, which is the least trusted. Still, 50 per cent named public television as the most trustworthy information source.

Quebecers are also having a hard time trusting each other – most respondents believe there’s less tolerance for different thoughts and beliefs and that people are less courteous and respectful in public.

The need for political imagination

Donald Riendeau, director of the Trust Institute, says the results are deeply worrying.

He points out that 10 years ago, Quebec was reeling from corruption scandals and the Charbonneau commission undermining trust in the government.

Now, he says, Quebec has to grapple with its current issues while also anticipating the future: the climate crisis, AI, the housing crisis, disinformation and health-care services.

“We don’t trust our organizations, even our society, to be able to face off all these different issues, right?” he says.

He believes institutions, especially governments, are not forward-thinking enough and are “short-termist.”

“We don’t see a long-term view, and we just think two years, three years to be elected, to show good fake news, to improve our status, to make people think that things are better this year than the following years. But when we look five, 10 year overviews, we can see that we didn’t really invest to strengthen all these,” he says.

For example, Riendeau says, the government could take proactive measures around AI to ensure a healthy job market rather than react to the whims of tech companies like with the digital sales tax.

Donal Gill, a political science professor at Concordia University, agrees and says he’s not surprised by the poll results.

He argues that similar trends are growing beyond Quebec and Canada and are, in part, the result of a lack of political imagination.

“We have traded away some of our imaginative capacity to a kind of a centrist, technocratic managerialism that I think denies a lot of people a feeling of agency in their own lives,” he says.

He says when governments “over promise and under deliver,” people feel alienated from the centres of power, which they see as “far away from them.”

He adds that it sets up the perfect conditions for scapegoating, especially targeting immigrants, and the embracing of right-wing ideals.

When people feel pressure from the cost of living, “people are publicly impatient in ways that they weren’t before,” says Gill.

He stresses that class divisions, which are increasing as the middle class slowly disappears, sew distrust.

“We are richer than we’ve ever been, and yet the gap between those who have and those who haven’t is bigger than ever before. That sort of makes it that people feel like we’re not all in this together,” he says.

Big, bold visions

Gill points to the growing desire for Quebec sovereignty among young people and says it shows a craving for big, bold visions for a different society.

He says politicians like Prime Minister Mark Carney are still relying on “managerial” and “technocratic” political discourse.

“It’s very like, ‘Don’t you worry, we at the centre of power will pull the levers because we’re the smart ones,” he says.

“If you look back at the speeches by René Lévesque or even someone like (Lucien) Bouchard 30 years ago, they were promising, ‘People come on the train with us. This is a journey we’re going on together. We’re going to achieve a dream of a different kind of society.’ I think that’s a very appealing to young people today,” he added.

• READ MORE: Quebec’s newest sovereigntists hope to revive an aging movement

When young people feel they have nothing to lose – no pension, no plan to purchase a home and uncertain career paths – “why not vote for a different society, one where you can rip it up and start again?” says Gill.

The professor believes it can be an opportune moment for parties that have been lagging to take a risk and propose daring policies, especially on the left.

Gill says increasing active participation in democratic institutions is foundational to rebuilding trust.

“People will trust institutions that they themselves have engaged with in a positive and constructive way, rather than only at a distance where they’re being often paternalistically and condescended to,” Gill explains.

The silver lining

While the Trust Institute’s data paints a grim portrait of social cohesion, Riendeau and Gill say there are some positive aspects to the poll results.

While American politicians and companies axe Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) targets, Riendeau says he’s happy to see such concern for the environment and hopes it can push governments and corporations to act.

Gill says he’s also encouraged to see widespread concern over AI and believes the government is behind when it comes to regulating its use.

“I hope that the political class in Quebec and Canada … start regulating now and protect people’s jobs, protect people’s intellectual copyright, which is being eaten up alive and fed to these large language models, and protect human dignity, which I think is genuinely on the line with this stuff.”