Apparently I'm a Quebecker

Vote Compass recently published a survey of Canadians' attitudes toward a variety of issues. The results were broken down by province, scaling how much respondents agreed or disagreed with different propositions. Not surprisingly, the survey found that Albertans and Quebeckers frequently have widely divergent views. On the spectrum of agree or disagree, they were often at opposite ends.

Interesting to me personally was that although I am an Albertan, and have been for most of the last five decades, my views are generally much closer to those of Quebeckers.

For example, on the question of how much help the oil industry should get from the Canadian government, only Alberta and Saskatchewan were at the "somewhat more" end. Quebec (and I) leaned furthest toward the "much less" end. On the subject of a carbon tax, needless to say Alberta and Saskatchewan were along the "somewhat disagree" end. All the other provinces, except Manitoba, were on the "somewhat agree" end with Quebec (and I) most in agreement.

This was a common pattern: Quebec on one side, Alberta and Saskatchewan on the other, and the rest of Canada in the middle. Indeed, the trio were often outliers. It would be expected on energy and environmental issues, with Alberta hung up on oil and Quebec the strongest province on the environment, but it showed on other issues as well, including handguns and the treatment of indigenous people.

One issue where the two drew closer together was Quebec independence. While all provinces were opposed (including Quebec), Alberta was closest to Quebec at the "neutral" end. (I suspect, however, that their motives were somewhat different.) They also agreed that less should be done to accommodate religious minorities and unions should have less influence. I can agree with them on the former but strongly disagree on the latter.

Does the greater accord of my views with Quebeckers than with my fellow Albertans mean I'm living in the wrong province? Not at all. I don't feel particularly strong geographic loyalties. My turf is the Beltline, not Calgary, not Alberta. And, in any case, I have lots of company—hell, in 2015 we elected the NDP. Besides, my high school French has long deserted me.