A new opinion poll indicates that the vast majority of Canadians are proud of their country and their indigenous land, but our sense of national pride has decreased compared to a few years ago.

The polling company "Leger" surveyed 1,607 people last weekend, asking them about their feelings on being Canadian before Canada Day. The company asked similar questions to a group of 1,003 Americans before the Fourth of July.

The results indicate that the vast majority of us - 76 percent - would call ourselves proud Canadians.

However, 45 percent of the people surveyed said they feel less pride than they did five years ago in 2019. Leger stated that this is an increase of 16 percentage points since 2021, when they asked the same question.

Participants were asked to choose from a list of things that make them proud to be Canadian. The natural beauty of the country topped the list, followed by universal healthcare, freedom and equality, a peaceful and safe community, and multiculturalism.

Only one in five said their fellow Canadians make them feel proud.

Long wait times and a shortage of family doctors, along with overwhelmed emergency rooms that have dominated headlines across the country in recent years, negatively impact our collective pride in healthcare.

The state of the healthcare system was at the top of the list of concerns for survey participants, coming in second only to economic inequality and poverty as the things that make people feel less proud to be Canadian.

In third place on that list: the current federal government.

The survey indicated that the vast majority of those who chose Trudeau’s Liberals as a major concern also said they support the federal Conservatives.

In fact, Conservative voters were more likely to say they feel less proud to be Canadian than they did five years ago, with 65 percent agreeing with this statement compared to only 26 percent of Liberal voters, 41 percent of NDP supporters, and 36 percent of those supporting the Bloc Québécois.

Ninety-four percent of people who said they vote for the Liberals stated they are proud Canadians, a number that drops to 88 percent among NDP voters, 68 percent among Conservatives, and 51 percent for those supporting the Bloc.

However, the most proud region was the Conservative stronghold of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, where more than 80 percent said they are proud of Canada.

Quebec residents were more likely to say their level of pride has not changed in the last five years, and they were also more likely to say they are not proud to be Canadian.

Only 22 percent of participants in Quebec said they plan to celebrate Canada Day, the lowest in the country. Quebec recently celebrated Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, also known as Fête nationale, on June 24.

Less than half of those surveyed plan to celebrate on July 1.

Overall, only seven percent of those surveyed said they are more proud than they were in 2019, while 45 percent said things haven’t changed.