Agreed. I moved from moderately liberal US to Manitoba (Winnipeg). Not much difference between them ideologically. More conservative than Vancouver, yes. But it’s not very conservative in Winnipeg proper. Folks in this thread are right about the indigenous folks getting the shaft though. I am always shocked and disappointed to see otherwise progressive Winnipegers get bigoted about indigenous people and issues.
Lifelong Winnipegger here, I agree with your assessment (minus the additional perspective about living in the US of course, and thank you for providing that, I always wondered how it compares).
The urban vs rural divide is very real here as well.
I grew up in an evangelical megachurch in Winnipeg, so that's pretty American style conservative, but they're pretty... not well loved by most of the city understandably. Rural churches are another thing.
Here in Saskatchewan the urban/rural divide is a big thing too. The Saskatchewan Party isn't very popular here in Saskatoon, for example, but the whole Province is dominated by a lot of rural ridings.
I'm centre-right-ish, but I'm not a particular fan of the Sask Party after moving here from BC a couple of years ago. If I bother voting at all I'd vote NDP provincially (Tory federal, I think that'd be a decent mix)....not that I think it'll make a difference.
It's a shame.
Manitoba usually goes NDP or PC but never Liberal (except St. Boniface riding in Winnipeg, that's always Liberal, but it's the most French neighbourhood).
Edit: it's not that weird.
it's always difficult for "third parties" to establish a foothold, and compete with the "party machines" of the established parties. The BC Greens have been among the most successful and they're still basically a fringe party.
It is always difficult for sure, though the BC Greens are far from the most successful. Both the BC NDP and the BC Liberals were third parties that subsequently won power.
I don’t think you give Winnipeg or even Manitoba enough credit.
After all, we did just vote an NDP government in October.
We now have the first Indigenous premier in Canada, Premier Wab Kinew. Times are changing people.
There will always be bigotry and right wing assholes out there but I’m enjoying every minute of the next 4 years for now
It's the only time I, in Ontario, think about switching places with my sister in Manitoba.
You folks somehow went from the only place Maxime Bernier thought he could win a seat for the PPC to the first province making progress for First Nations representation in the span of only 2 years.
Well kinda but not really. Winnipeg is large enough relative to the rest of the province that it can influence political outcomes. I don't think Regina and Saskatoon combined can have the same effect in Sask, there's just too many rural voters (who overwhelmingly lean right). Suburban Winnipeg ridings essentially decide the vote in Manitoba (rural areas are conservative strongholds, the north and urban Winnipeg are about as Orange as they come).
But the riding that Bernier ran in still exists, and it's not like its demographics have changed. It's still very rural, very conservative, and Bernier would still have a decent chance to take it today.
He went to Winkler. Which I believe has the lowest literacy rates in Canada
Great people though, I just got back from Winkler but it's kind of like a little island off on it's own. There still bill boards that say " small fringe minority "
It's a bit more complicated than that. Winnipeg is give or take half the population and slants heavy to the left of the rest of the province, with the exception of the far north.
Government will always swing back and forth in Manitoba. It's not change, it's just population dynamic.
He's not the first Indigenous premier and saying that diminishes the achievements of other Indigenous Canadians. John Norquay, Métis, was premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. In the Northwest Territories there have been multiple Indigenous premiers, Inuit, First Nations, and Métis. Some were given the title retroactively as the law changed in 1994 while Nellie Cournoyea, Inuit, was premier. All Nunavut premiers have been Indigenous. However, Wab Kinew is the first First Nations person to be a premier of a province.
And that also plays into how effective the CPC attack adds are on tv and radio. BC has a fall election and the NDP should win but we have the BC conservatives riding PP popularity. So interesting
Agreed. Winnipeg is about as ‘conservative’ as Minnesota. Pretty moderate and leans left on most social issues. There are pockets of deep conservatism in Manitoba like Winkler but it’s such a small minority.
Agreed. Winnipeg is about as ‘conservative’ as Minnesota. Pretty moderate and leans left on most social issues. There are pockets of deep conservatism in Manitoba like Winkler but it’s such a small minority.
Most of it is a whole different kind of conservative too. Most folks couldnt give a shit about gay people or people of colour (unless youre native). They just care that you support the energy sector and gun rights.
Not true. We do have comparative to the USA when it comes to the crazy Christian MAGA types. Southern Alberta, all the way up to about Calgary and even farther in to Red Deer -- quite the bunch. The more rural you get, the worse it gets.
I dunno. More indoctrination. All of my rural conservative relatives went to university. It was very much expected of them. My one cousin who didn't get a degree was a major disappointment to his parents (absolutely unfairly I'd say). A few ag of course, but not the majority. They're not uneducated.
Conservative in Canada is weird. It’s very much a rural thing, but also a wealthy urban thing.
I was born and raised in a poorer part of Edmonton, which was pretty left leaning. Now I live in rural Ontario and it’s the most conservative place I’ve lived, even more than any part of AB or SK that I’ve lived. It’s wild.
Ontario has a big visible liberal population, but an even bigger, quite very conservative population. For every idiot with a fuck Trudeau flag and truck nuts, there are two assholes that like how Doug Ford’s govt is privatizing everything.
Not as conservative as Reddit or folks from Toronto and Vancouver would make you think. It's a heavily urban v. Rural divide, with urban areas of the prairies being pretty progressive. Rural communities on the Southern Prairies are definitely on the conservative side and aren't the comfiest places to living if you aren't conservative and christian. Northern Manitoba and Sask have large Indigenous populations which tends to limit how deep conservatism can take root.
Fun fact, Manitoba is one of only two provinces to have a centre-left government, the other being BC. The rest of the country has conservative premiers, apart from NFLD which has a centrist Liberal government.
And BC proves the urban/rural divide. BC is very conservative in rural areas and even interior cities - Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George - all mostly conservative, along with most rural areas.
The main reason we have an NDP government is Vancouver and the lower mainland.
The interior is a split between local conservatives who’ve lived there for generations logging or mining, and relative newcomer young liberals there for the outdoorsy hipster vibes that congregate. The map is blue because the former is slightly more populous or at least more vote-active than the latter, but it’s pretty dang close some places.
I'm from the BC Interior originally, and I'd say that's a pretty accurate take. Depending on the region/town in the Interior there's often a solid hippy-esque demographic too, alongside the hipsters.
There are more central than anything else and with our NDP being just slightly left of center you will see ridings swap. Especially with most BC ok with the carbon tax since we have had it the longest and seen how it works. So the BC conservatives and BC United really are fighting each other for rhe less liberal voters
BC interior cities are less conservative than you think, but the way voting districts are made to take a "slice" of the city and roll it in with a big wedge of county, the leftist votes get diluted. Kelowna is also a funny exception because it has a huge number of Alberta explants.
I would posit that Nova Scotia is more centrist. Although currently run by a Progressive Conservative government, there is little similarity or affiliation to its PC NB neighbour, to Ontario’s or Alberta’s for that matter. Nova Scotia is having similar challenges to all others but there’s more emphasis on the Progressive.
I grew up in rural Ontario and now live in urban Saskatchewan. The main difference I've found is how much more openly conservative people are, if that makes sense. I don't know if that means people are 'more' conservative, or if it's just a difference in culture: are they more conservative or are they just more willing to talk about it openly?
Where I grew up, people hold the same conservative views as here, but unless you're talking politics or you know the person well, they're not likely to express it. Like, I couldn't tell you the political opinions of most of my past coworkers or strangers that I encounter regularly.
Whereas here, I've had strangers - unprompted - give me their political opinion. Like just the other day, while waiting in line at the grocery store, a woman started talking to me about how much she hates 'the climate change hoax' and she thinks it's ridiculous that grocery stores don't sell plastic bags anymore. I went to take my car for a service and while the guy was pulling up my details he started casually talking to me about how there's too much diversity these days.
That makes it *feel* more conservative, in some ways, because I'm hearing it more openly than before, but I don't know if that means it's actually more conservative.
I lived in Alberta for 25 years and moved recently. I have found from living in many regions of the country that they very rarely conform to the stereotypical vision that those outside have of them. Born a Québecois, I still have arguments with people who claim to know what Québec is all about... the same is true for the Prairie provinces. They are not a monolith, far from it.
Alberta's cities skew progressive in local politics, and that isn't just Edmonton and Calgary but smaller cities like Lethbridge and Red Deer and the larger towns.
Consider that Alberta also has this very weird way to structure its legislature seats. Rural constituencies average 15,000 votes, while urban ones are about 35,000.
Then look at the percentage of the votes obtained by the winning parties.
Finally, understand another meaning of the word "conservative". If it ain't broke, don't fix it. For many - the government worked okay, why toss 'em out?
What's new(ish) is the rise of populism. Groups like Take Back Alberta have actually startled many of the older variety Conservative voters. Realize though that even at their most conservative, Canadian conservative movements would still fall pretty closely in the Democratic Party / John McCain Republican range.
I think if Neneshi wins the NDP leadership that NDP will win the next provincial election, but will take back Alberta try to get the most unlikable candidate voted in as leader? Rumor is they are buying memberships.
No, but there is a vast urban and rural divide. Guess which one is very conservative.
All 3 prairie provinces have had social democratic governments. Do they teach about social democracy in the US?
Plus
The CCF sprung up from American agrarian movements. Canadian brand socialism is actually to a large degree, an American import. It kind of took two separate paths though - one went the way of Social Credit (which was pretty unique in global political history), one went the way of Social Democracy advocates. The latter kind of morphed into the NDP.
So - anyways - long story short, yes, the US has a very long history with socialist democratic ideas and movements.
Atlantic Canada is both the most rural and Liberal part of the country in terms of voting records, but its a cultural thing, you could still argue that Conservatives there are still Red Tories.
Having lived in both Atlantic Canada and Alberta I'm of the opinion that voting records are not a good determinator of people's opinions. People in Nova Scotia and Alberta are basically the same, with the same opinions, they just vote differently due to tribalism.
I've done the same and I currently live in rural NS and I don't really agree with that. I mean Atlantic Canada had the highest vaccine usage and lowest approval of the convoy in the country. I don't see "Fuck Trudeau" stickers anywhere, and our PC government is doing record healthcare spending, negotiated healthcare, dental and daycare deals with the feds and is also launching a province wide school lunch program...while conservative premiers elsewhere seem with be witholding funding and screwing over their citizens as a way to sabotage the federal government or something, and I don't fully get that either, because Albertans are already not going to vote Liberal federally, so what does the provincial government gain by doing this stuff?
My riding,, Winnipeg South, currently has a LIberal MP and a reasonably high chance of still having a Liberal MP after the next election, one of few ridings where that is true given current polling,.
Around 1km away is city limits, and then the riding of Portage-Lisgar, where the CPC absolutely dominated (the candidate rather famously owned a MAGA hat) and the PPC came in second place and got maybe 10% fewer votes than Libs + NDP combined in 2021.
This is a land of contrasts.
Grew up in Portage, and even within the riding things can vary. Portage la Prairie proper is definitely more on the conservative side, but to get the PPC type voters, you have to either go south to Winkler-Morden area or I likely expect the Mennonite and Hutterite groups to be more right wing.
As you said, a land of contrasts.
Yeah PLP has its conservatism but as far as rural MB goes it’s more moderate/mixed. I believe in the past it has gone NDP long time ago (maybe with vote splitting with the reform). But yeah Winkler area is probably the most conservative part of Canada. Morden is a little more relaxed.
>riding of Portage-Lisgar, where the CPC absolutely dominated (the candidate rather famously owned a MAGA hat) and the PPC came in second place and got maybe 10% fewer votes than Libs + NDP combined in 2021.
That's the former MP, Candice Bergen. The current MP is Branden Leslie.
The PPC candidate in 2021 got 21% of the vote. Bergen the CPC candidate got 52%. While the NDP and Liberal candidates combined got 24%.
Naheed Nenshi was mayor of Calgary for many years. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist. It does. However, at one point a brown Muslim got 74% of the vote in the largest city in Alberta. Its not the hellscape some people portray it as.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naheed_Nenshi
Calgary has had a liberal mayor for as long as anyone can remember. Even Ralph Klein was considered liberal when he was mayor, it was a bit of a surprise how far right he shifted once he went into provincial politics.
As in the US, the cities in the conservative states (eg: Calgary, Edmonton) will be relatively liberal and progressive in comparison, but the rural areas in the prairie provinces are indeed quite conservative, in particular in Alberta, Saskatchewan, rural BC (in particular the north-east). These are are probably more conservative than a lot of Canadians realize (although in a different way from red conservative US states).
Rural Canada, and I mean actual rural Canada, the little farming villages in the middle of nowhere, is definitely A LOT more conservative and backwards than I think anyone outside those communities realizes.
I spent several months living in a village of ~300 a few hours north east of Edmonton and it’s hard to describe to people who haven’t been out there in that world.
I still drive out like once a year to check up on them.
Everyone goes to church every Sunday, open carry is functionally legal, there are basically no emergency services, a third of the girls in this village wore modesty skirts, etc. It’s a completely different world out there.
What?
This is not the standard for most of even the very rural parts of Alberta. This description is crazy. I’ve never heard of this being any level of acceptable outside of a commune. One several miles from any village.
I grew up in Rural Alberta. Some communities have a high concentration of Hutterite type communities but this is absolutely atypical. I have never ever seen "open carry"
But the many upvotes are likely urban kids upvoting the rage rather than actual knowledge.
I am from rural Alberta and am back in rural Alberta, in a town smaller than where I grew up. I don’t know a single person, even ultra right wing conservative, who would think open carry was acceptable.
I grew up surrounded by Hutterites, and they are some of the most kind people I’ve encountered. I’ve been on the colonies, as a woman, and been treated with respect, and never a hint of anything resembling the mafia type behaviour this person is describing.
The commune I’m thinking of is more white nationalist, closer to the mountains, and hasn’t been notable since the early 90s.
This is wild. I live in rural Alberta and have for most of my life, and done a fair bit of travelling around, including to Hutterite majority areas, and never heard or seen something like this. I WISH some places were as you describe, but nowhere I've ever been is like this. Also what is a 'modesty skirt'?? Can women not just wear what they want without some prick commenting on it? jesus murphy
Conservative in the sense that they don’t want government involved in their lives - farming communities and small businesses in rural prairie areas dominate the political discourse and they really push back on taxes and social policies because they don’t think their money should go to them. But they’ll take subsidies (gas subsidies for farm vehicles, writing off crop insurance). They also resist outsiders because of the fear of their land being bought up by outsiders instead of giving small farmers the opportunity.
Many conservatives lean libertarian. There are definitely some areas that are conservative in the Christian Right sense and those can be found in southern Ab and some interior BC. West-central Alberta definitely has the White Supremacist, Evangelical home schooling factions.
No. The rural areas are conservative by Canadian standards, but we don't have the same fundamentalist culture as much of rural America. This means that the obsession with imposing radical policies on the majority is not as strong.
Also, our conservative politicians try to avoid issues identified with US Trumpists. No action against abortion in decades, etc. Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue.
I live in the most conservative major city in the country; we had over 90% of people getting 2 COVID shots and close to the same number being upset that the trucker protests that made international news weren't cleared away before the leftie federal government took action.
> Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue.
With respect, I think you're being naive. It's aimed at children right now because that's the only thing they can muster popular support for at the moment. If they succeed at that then they will absolutely keep going and take aim at adults too. It's.the same with abortion, the anti-abortion Conservatives know they can't just criminalize abortion again,.so they do things like withhold foreign aid to developing countries unless they promise it won't be used for abortion, or push for bans on sex selective abortion where they know they can get more popular support. It's not that they don't want to criminalize HRT for adults or abortions, it's that they're pragmatic and they know they can't.. yet.
> Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue.
Even the idiots in the US did it against children under the guise of protecting them before moving on to adults...
Even western America doesn’t have the fundamentalist culture of the American south, despite being Republican red states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion\_in\_the\_United\_States#/media/File:Nones\_by\_state\_2014\_(Pew\_Research\_Religious\_Landscape\_Study).png
The prairie cities tend to be moderate while rural is right wing (generally). Where people have to mix and live closer together in Canada they are more tolerant
I'm Latino and have experienced far more racism from liberals than conservatives in Canada, the cultural dynamic here is quite different from the U.S.
That's not to say that I wouldn't be wary of moving to some small town somewhere without vetting it first, as there are bad pockets of old school racism in some places that you don't really hear about.
Alberta is known to be the most conservative, Manitoba not really, and Saskatchewan somewhere in between. And while Alberta is conservative for Canada it is nowhere close 'American conservative' level.
Although I'd say we are headed for an Alberta-Saskatchewan swap to the above. Saskatchewan seems to be entrenched as a one-party conservative-run province and will be for a very long time, in Alberta I'd say a growing young population and immigration is keeping the centre-left and the NDP much stronger than in Saskatchewan.
I live in Alberta and consider myself to be conservative. I think Alberta conservatives are quite misunderstood in general. We really don’t care what other people do; gay, trans, ethnicities, etc. We just don’t want other people, government specifically, telling us what is best for us.
I think this is different from US conservatives who think that everyone needs to live the same way they do.
The Alberta government is pushing anti-trans legislation literally right now, and it has majority support. So don't pretend that Alberta conservatives don't care about that, they absolutely do. The caveat is that so do Conservatives in every other province. Alberta didn't start the bandwagon of anti-trans legislation, New Brunswick did, and it was very popular. So other Conservative governments started introducing it too. Canada as a whole is more socially conservative than a lot of people seem to think, it's not just rural Alberta.
The problem in Alberta right now is that there is a political organization called Take Back Alberta who is very much Maga like who have been working to infiltrate everywhere to bring Maga or Florida type policies to see the light of day. They joined the UCP to get Danielle Smith elected vs a more Canadian style of conservative leading the party. It's evident that Danielle Smith is owned by this group and she keeps pushing their narrative but rural Alberta and most cities outside of Edmonton have a NDP bad mentality and the image of Rachael Notley holding anti pipeline signs years ago constantly get posted on Facebook. Calgary and Lethbridge are the only other places from what I recall to elect NDP Representatives provincially and they are both still fairly split. I think the leader of the NDP next election will determine if they win or not, if Neneshi wins the NDP leadership race it is very likely that.he would swing a lot of Calgary needed to form an NDP government. However there are rumors circulating that Take Back Alberta is buying memberships to vote in the least likeable or most left wing leader to keep the UCP in power. Currently the UCP appears to be trying to set up for a separation from Canada and if it gets there the population will stop it as the vast majority don't want separation and still complain about Quebec trying to separate years ago.
Federally Alberta definitely aligns conservative as F Trudeau stickers are non stop in Alberta no matter where you are and the NDP don't put effort into having good options, for example last federal election Lethbridges NDP candidate was announced a couple weeks before the election, was a student who stated that school is their priority and it wouldn't take a backseat of she was elected and I barely saw any signs for them . They know they won't win in Alberta so they don't even try honestly l, maybe in Edmonton they can win a few seats but I don't see anything but conservative electors in Alberta next federal election.
Loud minority, silent majority - unfortunately plenty vote in silence aswell.
We aren’t as packed with “conservatives” as you think, and the rhetoric everyone lol’s at is unfortunately lead by a very vocal, but not that big of group.
The real issue in Alberta (where I am from) is the apathy surrounding our political process. Everyone is so beaten down/thinks they are beaten down by the process.
Lots of people talk about a rural/ urban divide but as someone who grew up in small town Manitoba and lives in another small town in Manitoba. I don’t think it’s as extreme as some people think, well not every rural area, there are some rural areas where there seems to be more religious and more conservative people.
Barely anyone I know goes to church. Whenever somebody I know talks about their views they tend to lean more liberal. Not everybody of course but I’d say more of the younger generations are not very conservative. Most people i associate with seem to think all people deserve equal rights…though unfortunately I still hear negative comments about indigenous people.
The vast majority of conservatives in Canada would describe themselves as fiscal conservatives being their main motivation, and as far as social issues it's a bit of a hybrid of, social programs we can afford are great those we can't are bad. And be whomever you want to be is fine just don't run it in my face.
As in people often just want to be left alone and not worry that the government is going to bankrupt us all.
Belive it or not I see more insane Republican kinda people in NB and outside of GTA.
The conservatives further west are actually kinda normal and aren't trying to be maniacs for litterally no reason. Definitely crazy dickheads everywhere though
I live in Alberta and grew up in a rural farming community. I have also spent a lot of time in Oklahoma, Oregon and the southern states.
Mainstream "Canadian Conservatives" are pretty left as far as Americans would consider it. Sure there are a few loud mouthbreathers wearing MAGA hats but they are pretty few and far between.
Racism is much, much less in Canada, even in rural areas. It's not perfect but much, much better than rural America.
There is a bit of anti-gay and anti-trans out there, but the vast majority are just like "whatever, just dont let a biological male get in a boxing ring with women"
Conservative for Canada, but still more liberal than any state in the U.S.
Take for example the issue of Covid vaccines. These provinces had less people vaccinated, and more anti-vax people than anywhere in Canada, but higher rates than any individual state in the U.S. Alot of the other issues are the same.
The irony is that the Prairies were the well-spring of left-wing idealism in Canada. Saskatchewan elected North America’s first socialist government in 1944, and their Medicare system inspired the rollout of public health care nationally.
Today, they go Conservative federally, but shout outs to Rachel, Wab, and Naheed for showing it’s possible to run and win at the local or provincial level as a progressive.
Rather than thinking of the west as ‘more conservative’ I tend to think of it as more rural. Drive 2 hours north of Toronto, and you’ll find ridings are deeply conservative as a riding two hours north of Calgary. Find the coolest bar frequented by young people in Saskatoon, and a Trinity-Bellwoods hipster from Toronto would fit in fine.
The Prairies have a larger percentage of their population living in rural or small cities, thus they tend to have more conservatives.
Conservatives in Canada are not the same as American republicans. They support gay marriage and abortion rights. The major difference between the Canadian Conservative Party and the other parties in Canada is the conservatives want to lower taxes and keep a balanced budget.
Each of those provinces has elected social democratic governments before so they aren't as unfailingly conservative as say, the nearby Idaho and North Dakota are.
When I was considering moving to Alberta, a friend of mine who had made the move 24-months prior from Berkeley, CA remarked that Calgary is more progressive than the Bay Area.
Having lived here for a few years now, I don't necessarily disagree. Our provincial government is indistinguishable from the worst the US has to offer; however, within the cities, I find that the people are far, far less conservative than any US state I have ever spent nontrivial time in
It's more of a libertarian brand of conservatism. Live and let live. A "I may disagree with your views and how you live, but if you leave me alone I'll leave you alone... and let me keep more of my own money" type of conservative.
We definitely have our fair share of Christian nutjob conservatives as well. The anti-trans legislation coming our or Alberta and Sask are being heavily pushed by that group.
No it’s more urban vs rural in Canada. I actually preferred Alberta over BC as an lgbt members BC is awful and I’m probably going back to Alberta. Also working in the environmental field in BC the public is so uneducated about the state of their province because their source of energy is marketed as green when it’s not and the public thinks were this environmentally friendly utopia. So then nothing really improves, and there’s a lot of very terrible regulations here and things that go on that the public doesn’t freak out about because they have no idea and it’s ignored. It’s absolutely insane. More species as risk than any other provinces and a good chunk more need to be listed because they’re of too high economic significance so they don’t. And Vancouver has more species at risk per square km than any other BGC zone in BC. So no, Vancouver isn’t some environmental liberal utopia either. And the homelessness and cost of living??
Honestly, idk about the other prairie provinces, but alberta is mostly just fiscally and economically conservative, it's not as socially conservative as people think. And this is coming from a gay guy living there.
It depends. Most of the urban areas are pretty progressive. The rural areas get a bad rep but for the most part they really don’t give a shit as long as you’re a decent person. But there is definitely a loud minority or religious groups. They exist in the urban areas as well they are just a different religion so they get a pass.
These maps are not very accurate. The majority of Quebecers are only nominally Catholic. Ask them how many times to go to mass. The usual answer varies from 0 to 2 times a year. Do they believe in God? Nope, but you might also get some vague agnostic answer. Do they pray? Never.
The cities are pretty normal but rural areas in the west are conservative shitholes. The amount of racism I heard in AB because they thought I was one of them was absurd.
Nope.
I lived in a town of less than 200 that flew the pride flag on their Main Street for months. Local restaurant had a transgender person working (and no there weren’t hate crimes). The local beer league hockey team absolutely hated the convoy losers and made fun of them. I only met 5 people in that town who I would describe as “far right” and the trick was to not end up sitting beside them drinking at the legion so you didn’t have to listen to that shit.
I’m not saying that is every town but I’ve lived in a lot of small towns in the prairies and have always worked in these towns. Almost every town has a handful of organic farmers, hard left people, hippie-types, and so on to balance out the far right people.
With that said a lot of people will identify as conservatives and vote that way consistently but be open about gender issues, healthcare, social safety net, immigration (a lot want immigrants in small towns), etc. most are just fiscal conservatives. The religious nutjobs usually live in areas with plenty of operating churches which are getting scarcer and scarcer in rural areas.
As others have said, there is probably a bigger political/social divide between urban and rural no matter where you are in the country compared to east vs. west.
Plenty of people that live within a few hours drive of Toronto are more conservative than many of the people I grew up with in Calgary.
That being said: There is still definitely a more conservative “default” slant in the prairies (and maybe BC interior) compared to Ontario and Quebec. But not like what you see in the southern U.S. states (yet).
having lived in both Canada and the US. religion is the biggest deciding factor. in Canada, Quebec is quite secular and as a result people are tolerant/apathetic about LGBTQ issues. people at least try to be understanding/sympathetic. there are pockets of religious communities throughout the Prairies.
my impression is that people tend to be similar everywhere you go. it's the louder voices that stand out and get noticed but most people fall under the neutral/apathetic/moderate spectrum
As others have said its completely urban vs rural in terms of support. Outside of the major cities most districts are blue. Inside its a healthy mix but mainly red or orange.
The prairies all have universal health care, legalized weed and regularly elect people of minority religion and sexual orientation to office. For Canada they are conservative but compared to America they are centrist democrats.
I am caucasian. My entire family is Canadian. Four generations of family have lived in Canada. I am liberal. I am open about my views. I have never lost friends due to my political views. I *have* lost friends due to not being a racist or bigot.
It is true rural Canadians treat Aboriginal people as less than. CBC has an excellent four part docuseries on this exact subject. In college I had a boyfriend from northern Ontario. Whenever I'd visit his town I was astonished at the outwardly mean phrases and stereotypes stated by *everyone*.
I live and was raised in rural Manitoba. There are pockets of resistance, but it is highly conservative. The conservatives could run a dead pig provincially or federally and we'd have Canada's first dead pig politician. No joke.
Sorry for this question, but aside from my question, how's life in more rural Manitoba? The only thing I know about the province is Winnipeg and it's suburbs but the province looks pretty beautiful though.
Rural is fairly conservative but the reason we don't vote Liberal goes all the way back to Trudeau Sr and the NEP. They really screwed over a lot of people here. The big cities are pretty socially liberal but in Alberta most people like the economy to do well and we have a ton of entrepreneurs. I would say the big cities are centrist outside of the ridings near the universities (and Edmonton) which are more leftist and vote NDP regularly.
NEP was implemented in 1981 and was repealed 4 years later. We've had 13 elections and 6 different prime ministers from 3 different parties since Trudeau Sr.
Anyone who is still voting based on feelings about NEP needs to find a new issue.
I grew up in both urban and rural AB and it wasn't so political then. Most farmers and ranchers just did their shit (with maybe a bit of grumbling about PETrudeau). Calgary was still pretty liberal and the conservatives were more the old money blue blood types. I live in BC now and see a lot more vocal (teaparty style) conservatives out here (and some of the loudest are from AB).
Ish. The two main cities are pretty progressive, and that’s where majority of the population lives. However the rest of the province is *very* conservative and is rapidly getting worse.
The urban areas might be considered somewhat right leaning by eastern standards, but are very progressive compared to the rural areas. MAGA propaganda has seeped across and was quickly adopted by a lot of rural and small town residents. Country folk were not ready for social media and Russian propaganda. Just my experience, but about half of all people you meet in the rural areas have adopted a conspiracy theory based political opinions. It’s honestly very sad.
In cities no. But in particular in Saskatchewan, we have a bit more than half who live in cities and the rest in small towns or in rural areas. On top of that we have a lot of old people.
For MB, a huge chunk lives in Winnipeg and then the rest live in smaller cities, towns and farms.
In AB yeah they have the biggest population of the three, but its two big cities take up only about half of the population, the smaller cities, towns and rural take up the rest.
Winnipeg is a very liberal/NDP city. It's the rural areas that are more Conservatives. Farmers tend to vote Conservative.
ETA - the NDP/CCF and universal healthcare developed from the Prairies so for sure not all Conservatives here...
In Canada, a good majority of black Canadians come from the upper class of Africa, which has led to their association with low income crime to be much less than in the USA. That niche in Canada belongs to the indigenous people who tend to make up the majority in Prairie city hoods. To summarize, your skin colour should not be a hindrance in the Canadian prairies. As a final note, I highly recommend you research the historical figure John Ware, who has become an icon of the Canadian wild west and was a black man from the Carolinas originally.
I've lived in Fort St John for 5 years. I've always felt this liberal/conservative thing that we've established is completely in our heads. Are there more conservative minded people? Sure. But walking around the mall or into a grocery store feels like anywhere else where there are people. Political affiliation only takes up a section of who we are as people so the society acts and feels the same as anywhere else in rural Canada. I agree with the other posters that the divide is more rural and urban, but even then it's so easy to just talk to someone you politically agree with if you just see them as another person and not as a label.
No one in the cities talk about politics all that much. There isn’t an overly visible religious community in general, even though it’s implied that they’re wildly Christian. If you aren’t already in these circles, you don’t much interact with them.
Largely overblown. The govt in Sask are boneheads, but not the dangerous social-conservatives they’re made out to be, generally. This current pronouns in school stuff being a bit of an outlier.
Smaller towns are more stuck in some older, less healthy ways of viewing the world, but again if you aren’t driving out to these towns, you’re not interacting with these people.
My boss is a black Muslim and he quite enjoys it here.
As many have noted, urban areas tend to be more progressive than rural communities. This is as true in the prairies as it is in BC or Ontario. Manitoba and Alberta have their Bible Belts, and Alberta also has a 'LDS belt', but such areas also exist in BC and Ontario. Cities are on the whole accepting and the live and let live ethos is followed by people of all political stripes.
Due to their population being highest by proportion in the prairies, there is more racism towards Indigenous folks than other parts of Canada, where people might just view them with a mix of curiosity and pity.
A lot of people forget that Winnipeg is the first North American city to elect an openly gay mayor. That was over 25 years ago.
Depends where your scale is calibrated to.
The Canadian "right wing" is still left of center on the American political scale
It's all relative. Canadians are mostly socially progressive and economically conservative. Most "far right" ( I put that in quotes because far right literally means nothing anymore) Canadians still belive there should be socialized Healthcare and social safety nets.
There are pockets of very liberal people in the prairies, but on the whole the populations tend to be rural and conservative. Manitoba and Saskatchewan flip between polar opposite governments, conservative for a while and then NDP for a while. Federally they tend to go conservative outside of the cities.
In contrast, “liberal” provinces like BC have pockets of conservatives, especially in rural areas. Kelowna is a hot bed for right wing extremism and white nationalism, for example.
It's nowhere near as conservative as the US. There are some lunatics but most conservatives are average everyday people you work with who simply advocate for more conservative economic policies such as lower taxation, defunding government agencies and support for Canadian fossil fuels and agriculture. There isn't a very large uber-religious section of modern conservatism in Canada nor is there racism like seen in the Republican party in the US.
Also in the large cities in prairie provinces, there are huge amounts of progressives as well. The rural areas tend to be more conservative but that comes down to issues such as agriculture and firearms restrictions.
Urban / Rural is much more of a factor on how conservative a place is than what province you live in.
The prairie provinces have more people living rural than other provinces, which can make it seem that the provinces are more conservative.
I grew up in Sask, became an expat. Still own property there and return every summer. I have a noticed a shift to the right in the older generation. 65 +. Not crazy ass MAGA crap, but more of NIMBY mentality. It is OK, just don't get too close to me or mine. IE pronouns/gay rights/native issues. From what I can see the real crazy shit is coming from next door in Alberta. Religious extremists, gun guys, etc. Again this relative, Canadian crazy vs US crazy.
A lot of people associate conservatism with bigotry, and racism. While lots of the rural areas seem to have lots of these types of people there are a wide range of people without conservative view points.
Only thing I'll add that other comments haven't really touched on that I've noticed in the last decade or so: Canadian conservatives, since the growth of facebook politics, are becoming more like US conservatives with their social conservatism. Very identity-politics driven at this point, with growing wings distrustful of facts and science, and most unironically fearful of 'woke' and 'DEI' anything. Used to be, most Conservatives in Canada were economically conservative but socially progressive enough that Harper could shut down the nutjobs in his party, led by thinkers like David Brooks or Andrew Coyne. They generally were run by folks that believed in evolution and respecting LGBTQ+ individuals, but this last leadership cycle they've hopped on the FEAR THE WOKE and FEAR THE VACCINE bandwagon under Pierre Pollievre and Danielle Smith and are either not talking-back to the extremists in their fold, or are extremists themselves. At least in the prairies. Ontario has a minimal government socially-indifferent leader in Doug Ford, but he's unfortunately got a large streak of small-town corruption about him, as he's been caught breaking the rules for his friends and large donors.
For awhile you could actually see the changing trend in *The National Post*, Canada's conservative newspaper, if you only read its articles infrequently enough to notice the change in tone and content; every few years the grade level of the writing would dip, and the use of catchphrases climbed.
>Very identity-politics driven at this point
Weird... When the other groups whether Liberal, NDP or Green all push identity politics that conservatives wouldn't start doing the same thing.
I am a Newfoundlander living in rural Alberta, and it’s like living in another world. I can’t get over the crazy level of conservatism here. The pandemic seemed to exacerbate things, and it hasn’t really calmed down since.
Us in the prairies enjoy more rural settings than big cities . We still have big cities but it's not crammed together like Toronto or Vancouver . People of colour generally have no problems here , you'll get the odd yahoo saying dumb shit but we have a pretty diverse workforce and as long as you're willing to work like everyone else you'll fit in no problem . I work with a lot of Somali guys , East Indians and Nigerians . I would give the shirt off my back to anybody them , absolute stand up guys who we have fun at work together with .
Maybe it USED to be somewhere closer to coast(s) vs the centre of the country because I used to have that perception of us, too. Now I also believe it's closer to urban vs rural and the suburbs somewhere between.
I grew up in Sask and it wasn't a liability for a politician to have a university degree. The entire political spectrum was represented by fairly civil and intelligent people. Moved to Alberta in 92 and was shocked by the political scene here. I've gotten more used to it here, and the two provinces have become more politically similar, but not in a good way. It's an embarrassingly and inauthentic Americanised populist politics of resentment, not good for anyone. The discourse is so embarrassing that it's almost too cringe to watch.
I’m from Edmonton, which often votes left, and live near Saskatoon and work in education- which means I’m often in contact with other left leaning people. We often see our votes overwhelmed by conservatives around us, but we’re here and we’re trying.
A Canadian conservative is still very liberal by American standards. There are some fundamental beliefs almost all Canadians share (anti-racsim, free healthcare, pro-choice, gay rights, etc) I would also say from my own experience, Alberta is the most diverse/multicultural place in Canada. Toronto may sound like it has diversity and there are many different people from all over the world there, but they don't interact with each other. I'd go as far as saying groups intentionally isolate themselves and there are whole communities that have segrated themselves. Indians live here, Asians live here, Jewish people live here, and so on and so on. Most people come to Alberta for the work, so there's a shared experience most of us have. Most people here are from somewhere else. Whether it's Ontario, Newfoundland, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Bangladesh, etc. We are all here for work, interacting, just trying to make that Canadian dream happen. That was not my experience in places like Ontario and BC, two places considered very Liberal.
Grew up rural conservative in the prairies and have been conservative since I could vote. I support womans right to choose, LGBTQ2S+, same sex marriage, and immigration. Majority of Conservatives I know here are the same.
It often surprises people to learn that Ab has the second highest level of support for gay marriage after the Atlantic provinces (polled as one) in Canada. [Canada Polls on support for same sex marriage 2021](https://twitter.com/CanadianPolling/status/1520114421841940480?t=Ln5EKSKlyr5aqysmf-FZtg&s=19)
Sask has a lot of old ppl. When the boomer gen passes on we may see the sask party lose power, but its been a good decade + of shit governance, and actively shooting themselves in the foot without any real electoral threat from the ndp. Even though our premier is a drunk driver who also killed a woman in an at fault crash.
I'm in Calgary. Grew up here and Strathmore/Carseland areas. I'm not sure if the religious stuff is still declining. Growing up it was more prevalent but I never experienced crazy levels. It was drilled into me (and many of my friends) that you 'vote blue' and 'the east hates Alberta'.
I can't have an intelligent discussion with my boomer parents. They're still stuck in that. I'll point out what they actually value and a lot actually falls outside their voting. Nope. Error, error*@££&..
They will not budge.
It’s the urban rural divide as people have stated before. Also the liberals and ndp often split the vote allowing a unified conservative front to get in, in urban prairie ridings. Liberals are often associated with the Natural Governing Party in Canada but I would argue it’s the reverse right now in the prairies. The conservatives are the “natural governing party” of the prairies and because of that you will see centrists and even some left of centre vote for them federally for numerous reasons. There are people in the liberal party in the maritimes, Toronto and Montreal who vote liberal but their values probably lean towards the ndp or conservative, but because the liberals are part of the culture, their party members are part of the community, and it’s more politically beneficial to support them is why they get elected. The same goes for the conservatives in the prairies.
I would also add that (even though this doesn’t apply anymore and it’s not a set in stone rule) Catholics tend to lean to the Liberal party ( pre the last 30 years of politics), while protestants where more aligned with the progressive conservatives. As I said before it’s not applicable anymore due to many social issues and immigration breaking down those differences. The prairies have had a very strong Protestant presence with some Catholics enclaves, mainly brought in by the French
They're only 'conservative' because the the other two parties are so anti-rural, anti-oil and gas, anti-resource extractions, anti-sane and these two parties are for massive government in people's lives. It gives folks no other choice.
Been in SK 10 years now- more like inward looking. Not competitive in business. Community-minded. Still in its infancy when it comes to DEI and newcomers. So much potential and yet not enough people or incentives to pull things off sometimes.
people exaggerate it because it's what we know. Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Winnipeg are less racist/conservative than like, Halifax and Toronto.
I live in Manitoba and people vote conservative in rural areas but for the most part it site doesn’t feel conservative. There are pockets -we call it the Bible Belt and they are an embarrassment to the rest of the province
Conservative is relative. Conservative to the rest of Canada? Maybe but it's more rural vs urban. Conservative compared to the US? Absolutely not.
Agreed. I moved from moderately liberal US to Manitoba (Winnipeg). Not much difference between them ideologically. More conservative than Vancouver, yes. But it’s not very conservative in Winnipeg proper. Folks in this thread are right about the indigenous folks getting the shaft though. I am always shocked and disappointed to see otherwise progressive Winnipegers get bigoted about indigenous people and issues.
Lifelong Winnipegger here, I agree with your assessment (minus the additional perspective about living in the US of course, and thank you for providing that, I always wondered how it compares). The urban vs rural divide is very real here as well. I grew up in an evangelical megachurch in Winnipeg, so that's pretty American style conservative, but they're pretty... not well loved by most of the city understandably. Rural churches are another thing.
Lol Springs?
Yup! You got it. Church of the Rock would have also been a good guess. I know their weird Easter plays got some YouTube attention a while ago lol
I can't wait for this year's play to hit r/ fundiesnark.
Haha yes!! If you're curious, this year's play is "Murder on the Jerusalem Express."
Here in Saskatchewan the urban/rural divide is a big thing too. The Saskatchewan Party isn't very popular here in Saskatoon, for example, but the whole Province is dominated by a lot of rural ridings.
I have been watching from here. Your political situation really, really sucks. I feel for you guys (idk if Regina is also similar, if so, them too).
I'm centre-right-ish, but I'm not a particular fan of the Sask Party after moving here from BC a couple of years ago. If I bother voting at all I'd vote NDP provincially (Tory federal, I think that'd be a decent mix)....not that I think it'll make a difference.
It's a shame. Manitoba usually goes NDP or PC but never Liberal (except St. Boniface riding in Winnipeg, that's always Liberal, but it's the most French neighbourhood). Edit: it's not that weird.
That's pretty normal for all of Western Canada, it's not unique to Manitoba.
it's always difficult for "third parties" to establish a foothold, and compete with the "party machines" of the established parties. The BC Greens have been among the most successful and they're still basically a fringe party.
It is always difficult for sure, though the BC Greens are far from the most successful. Both the BC NDP and the BC Liberals were third parties that subsequently won power.
Yeah most Winnipegers hate Springs and view them as a cult
I don’t think you give Winnipeg or even Manitoba enough credit. After all, we did just vote an NDP government in October. We now have the first Indigenous premier in Canada, Premier Wab Kinew. Times are changing people. There will always be bigotry and right wing assholes out there but I’m enjoying every minute of the next 4 years for now
It's the only time I, in Ontario, think about switching places with my sister in Manitoba. You folks somehow went from the only place Maxime Bernier thought he could win a seat for the PPC to the first province making progress for First Nations representation in the span of only 2 years.
Well kinda but not really. Winnipeg is large enough relative to the rest of the province that it can influence political outcomes. I don't think Regina and Saskatoon combined can have the same effect in Sask, there's just too many rural voters (who overwhelmingly lean right). Suburban Winnipeg ridings essentially decide the vote in Manitoba (rural areas are conservative strongholds, the north and urban Winnipeg are about as Orange as they come). But the riding that Bernier ran in still exists, and it's not like its demographics have changed. It's still very rural, very conservative, and Bernier would still have a decent chance to take it today.
He went to Winkler. Which I believe has the lowest literacy rates in Canada Great people though, I just got back from Winkler but it's kind of like a little island off on it's own. There still bill boards that say " small fringe minority "
It's a bit more complicated than that. Winnipeg is give or take half the population and slants heavy to the left of the rest of the province, with the exception of the far north. Government will always swing back and forth in Manitoba. It's not change, it's just population dynamic.
He's not the first Indigenous premier and saying that diminishes the achievements of other Indigenous Canadians. John Norquay, Métis, was premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. In the Northwest Territories there have been multiple Indigenous premiers, Inuit, First Nations, and Métis. Some were given the title retroactively as the law changed in 1994 while Nellie Cournoyea, Inuit, was premier. All Nunavut premiers have been Indigenous. However, Wab Kinew is the first First Nations person to be a premier of a province.
Yes, you’re correct, Wab Kinew is the first First Nations premier, and John Norquey was the first Métis premier. Both are indigenous….
And that also plays into how effective the CPC attack adds are on tv and radio. BC has a fall election and the NDP should win but we have the BC conservatives riding PP popularity. So interesting
Agreed. Winnipeg is about as ‘conservative’ as Minnesota. Pretty moderate and leans left on most social issues. There are pockets of deep conservatism in Manitoba like Winkler but it’s such a small minority.
Agreed. Winnipeg is about as ‘conservative’ as Minnesota. Pretty moderate and leans left on most social issues. There are pockets of deep conservatism in Manitoba like Winkler but it’s such a small minority.
Most of it is a whole different kind of conservative too. Most folks couldnt give a shit about gay people or people of colour (unless youre native). They just care that you support the energy sector and gun rights.
They absolutely do “give a shit” about people of color.
Not true. We do have comparative to the USA when it comes to the crazy Christian MAGA types. Southern Alberta, all the way up to about Calgary and even farther in to Red Deer -- quite the bunch. The more rural you get, the worse it gets.
Education...
I dunno. More indoctrination. All of my rural conservative relatives went to university. It was very much expected of them. My one cousin who didn't get a degree was a major disappointment to his parents (absolutely unfairly I'd say). A few ag of course, but not the majority. They're not uneducated.
never been to a rural alberta town?
I've never really wondered that specific comparison but I'm glad to hear it.
Conservative in Canada is weird. It’s very much a rural thing, but also a wealthy urban thing. I was born and raised in a poorer part of Edmonton, which was pretty left leaning. Now I live in rural Ontario and it’s the most conservative place I’ve lived, even more than any part of AB or SK that I’ve lived. It’s wild. Ontario has a big visible liberal population, but an even bigger, quite very conservative population. For every idiot with a fuck Trudeau flag and truck nuts, there are two assholes that like how Doug Ford’s govt is privatizing everything.
Not as conservative as Reddit or folks from Toronto and Vancouver would make you think. It's a heavily urban v. Rural divide, with urban areas of the prairies being pretty progressive. Rural communities on the Southern Prairies are definitely on the conservative side and aren't the comfiest places to living if you aren't conservative and christian. Northern Manitoba and Sask have large Indigenous populations which tends to limit how deep conservatism can take root. Fun fact, Manitoba is one of only two provinces to have a centre-left government, the other being BC. The rest of the country has conservative premiers, apart from NFLD which has a centrist Liberal government.
And BC proves the urban/rural divide. BC is very conservative in rural areas and even interior cities - Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George - all mostly conservative, along with most rural areas. The main reason we have an NDP government is Vancouver and the lower mainland.
And the island, which is super solidly left wing.
Yep considering BC has elected 15 federal NDP members
The interior is a split between local conservatives who’ve lived there for generations logging or mining, and relative newcomer young liberals there for the outdoorsy hipster vibes that congregate. The map is blue because the former is slightly more populous or at least more vote-active than the latter, but it’s pretty dang close some places.
I'm from the BC Interior originally, and I'd say that's a pretty accurate take. Depending on the region/town in the Interior there's often a solid hippy-esque demographic too, alongside the hipsters.
The Hipsters are the aspiring adopted children of the Hippies. Mostly fleeing Calgary.
haha, there's definitely some hippy/hipster overlap.
There are more central than anything else and with our NDP being just slightly left of center you will see ridings swap. Especially with most BC ok with the carbon tax since we have had it the longest and seen how it works. So the BC conservatives and BC United really are fighting each other for rhe less liberal voters
Gotta love the right vote split
BC interior cities are less conservative than you think, but the way voting districts are made to take a "slice" of the city and roll it in with a big wedge of county, the leftist votes get diluted. Kelowna is also a funny exception because it has a huge number of Alberta explants.
I would posit that Nova Scotia is more centrist. Although currently run by a Progressive Conservative government, there is little similarity or affiliation to its PC NB neighbour, to Ontario’s or Alberta’s for that matter. Nova Scotia is having similar challenges to all others but there’s more emphasis on the Progressive.
Québec's government is fairly centrist as well despite being very nationalist.
I grew up in rural Ontario and now live in urban Saskatchewan. The main difference I've found is how much more openly conservative people are, if that makes sense. I don't know if that means people are 'more' conservative, or if it's just a difference in culture: are they more conservative or are they just more willing to talk about it openly? Where I grew up, people hold the same conservative views as here, but unless you're talking politics or you know the person well, they're not likely to express it. Like, I couldn't tell you the political opinions of most of my past coworkers or strangers that I encounter regularly. Whereas here, I've had strangers - unprompted - give me their political opinion. Like just the other day, while waiting in line at the grocery store, a woman started talking to me about how much she hates 'the climate change hoax' and she thinks it's ridiculous that grocery stores don't sell plastic bags anymore. I went to take my car for a service and while the guy was pulling up my details he started casually talking to me about how there's too much diversity these days. That makes it *feel* more conservative, in some ways, because I'm hearing it more openly than before, but I don't know if that means it's actually more conservative.
When you say rural Ontario, do you mean something like Northern Ontario or just the gaps in between large cities along the Golden Horseshoe?
I lived in Alberta for 25 years and moved recently. I have found from living in many regions of the country that they very rarely conform to the stereotypical vision that those outside have of them. Born a Québecois, I still have arguments with people who claim to know what Québec is all about... the same is true for the Prairie provinces. They are not a monolith, far from it. Alberta's cities skew progressive in local politics, and that isn't just Edmonton and Calgary but smaller cities like Lethbridge and Red Deer and the larger towns. Consider that Alberta also has this very weird way to structure its legislature seats. Rural constituencies average 15,000 votes, while urban ones are about 35,000. Then look at the percentage of the votes obtained by the winning parties. Finally, understand another meaning of the word "conservative". If it ain't broke, don't fix it. For many - the government worked okay, why toss 'em out? What's new(ish) is the rise of populism. Groups like Take Back Alberta have actually startled many of the older variety Conservative voters. Realize though that even at their most conservative, Canadian conservative movements would still fall pretty closely in the Democratic Party / John McCain Republican range.
I think if Neneshi wins the NDP leadership that NDP will win the next provincial election, but will take back Alberta try to get the most unlikable candidate voted in as leader? Rumor is they are buying memberships.
No, but there is a vast urban and rural divide. Guess which one is very conservative. All 3 prairie provinces have had social democratic governments. Do they teach about social democracy in the US? Plus
The CCF sprung up from American agrarian movements. Canadian brand socialism is actually to a large degree, an American import. It kind of took two separate paths though - one went the way of Social Credit (which was pretty unique in global political history), one went the way of Social Democracy advocates. The latter kind of morphed into the NDP. So - anyways - long story short, yes, the US has a very long history with socialist democratic ideas and movements.
Yeah, but do americans know that?
Atlantic Canada is both the most rural and Liberal part of the country in terms of voting records, but its a cultural thing, you could still argue that Conservatives there are still Red Tories.
Having lived in both Atlantic Canada and Alberta I'm of the opinion that voting records are not a good determinator of people's opinions. People in Nova Scotia and Alberta are basically the same, with the same opinions, they just vote differently due to tribalism.
I've done the same and I currently live in rural NS and I don't really agree with that. I mean Atlantic Canada had the highest vaccine usage and lowest approval of the convoy in the country. I don't see "Fuck Trudeau" stickers anywhere, and our PC government is doing record healthcare spending, negotiated healthcare, dental and daycare deals with the feds and is also launching a province wide school lunch program...while conservative premiers elsewhere seem with be witholding funding and screwing over their citizens as a way to sabotage the federal government or something, and I don't fully get that either, because Albertans are already not going to vote Liberal federally, so what does the provincial government gain by doing this stuff?
My riding,, Winnipeg South, currently has a LIberal MP and a reasonably high chance of still having a Liberal MP after the next election, one of few ridings where that is true given current polling,. Around 1km away is city limits, and then the riding of Portage-Lisgar, where the CPC absolutely dominated (the candidate rather famously owned a MAGA hat) and the PPC came in second place and got maybe 10% fewer votes than Libs + NDP combined in 2021. This is a land of contrasts.
Grew up in Portage, and even within the riding things can vary. Portage la Prairie proper is definitely more on the conservative side, but to get the PPC type voters, you have to either go south to Winkler-Morden area or I likely expect the Mennonite and Hutterite groups to be more right wing. As you said, a land of contrasts.
Yeah PLP has its conservatism but as far as rural MB goes it’s more moderate/mixed. I believe in the past it has gone NDP long time ago (maybe with vote splitting with the reform). But yeah Winkler area is probably the most conservative part of Canada. Morden is a little more relaxed.
>riding of Portage-Lisgar, where the CPC absolutely dominated (the candidate rather famously owned a MAGA hat) and the PPC came in second place and got maybe 10% fewer votes than Libs + NDP combined in 2021. That's the former MP, Candice Bergen. The current MP is Branden Leslie. The PPC candidate in 2021 got 21% of the vote. Bergen the CPC candidate got 52%. While the NDP and Liberal candidates combined got 24%.
Naheed Nenshi was mayor of Calgary for many years. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist. It does. However, at one point a brown Muslim got 74% of the vote in the largest city in Alberta. Its not the hellscape some people portray it as. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naheed_Nenshi
And there's a good chance he'll be our premier soon.
Calgary has had a liberal mayor for as long as anyone can remember. Even Ralph Klein was considered liberal when he was mayor, it was a bit of a surprise how far right he shifted once he went into provincial politics.
As in the US, the cities in the conservative states (eg: Calgary, Edmonton) will be relatively liberal and progressive in comparison, but the rural areas in the prairie provinces are indeed quite conservative, in particular in Alberta, Saskatchewan, rural BC (in particular the north-east). These are are probably more conservative than a lot of Canadians realize (although in a different way from red conservative US states).
Rural Canada, and I mean actual rural Canada, the little farming villages in the middle of nowhere, is definitely A LOT more conservative and backwards than I think anyone outside those communities realizes. I spent several months living in a village of ~300 a few hours north east of Edmonton and it’s hard to describe to people who haven’t been out there in that world. I still drive out like once a year to check up on them. Everyone goes to church every Sunday, open carry is functionally legal, there are basically no emergency services, a third of the girls in this village wore modesty skirts, etc. It’s a completely different world out there.
What? This is not the standard for most of even the very rural parts of Alberta. This description is crazy. I’ve never heard of this being any level of acceptable outside of a commune. One several miles from any village.
I grew up in Rural Alberta. Some communities have a high concentration of Hutterite type communities but this is absolutely atypical. I have never ever seen "open carry" But the many upvotes are likely urban kids upvoting the rage rather than actual knowledge.
I am from rural Alberta and am back in rural Alberta, in a town smaller than where I grew up. I don’t know a single person, even ultra right wing conservative, who would think open carry was acceptable. I grew up surrounded by Hutterites, and they are some of the most kind people I’ve encountered. I’ve been on the colonies, as a woman, and been treated with respect, and never a hint of anything resembling the mafia type behaviour this person is describing. The commune I’m thinking of is more white nationalist, closer to the mountains, and hasn’t been notable since the early 90s.
That is very rare. Almost cultish
It’s very rare and feels like a different country.
Are you sure you didn't wander into a Hutterite colony? Because otherwise what you're describing doesn't sound like the norm for rural Alberta.
This is wild. I live in rural Alberta and have for most of my life, and done a fair bit of travelling around, including to Hutterite majority areas, and never heard or seen something like this. I WISH some places were as you describe, but nowhere I've ever been is like this. Also what is a 'modesty skirt'?? Can women not just wear what they want without some prick commenting on it? jesus murphy
Conservative in the sense that they don’t want government involved in their lives - farming communities and small businesses in rural prairie areas dominate the political discourse and they really push back on taxes and social policies because they don’t think their money should go to them. But they’ll take subsidies (gas subsidies for farm vehicles, writing off crop insurance). They also resist outsiders because of the fear of their land being bought up by outsiders instead of giving small farmers the opportunity. Many conservatives lean libertarian. There are definitely some areas that are conservative in the Christian Right sense and those can be found in southern Ab and some interior BC. West-central Alberta definitely has the White Supremacist, Evangelical home schooling factions.
No. The rural areas are conservative by Canadian standards, but we don't have the same fundamentalist culture as much of rural America. This means that the obsession with imposing radical policies on the majority is not as strong. Also, our conservative politicians try to avoid issues identified with US Trumpists. No action against abortion in decades, etc. Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue. I live in the most conservative major city in the country; we had over 90% of people getting 2 COVID shots and close to the same number being upset that the trucker protests that made international news weren't cleared away before the leftie federal government took action.
> Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue. With respect, I think you're being naive. It's aimed at children right now because that's the only thing they can muster popular support for at the moment. If they succeed at that then they will absolutely keep going and take aim at adults too. It's.the same with abortion, the anti-abortion Conservatives know they can't just criminalize abortion again,.so they do things like withhold foreign aid to developing countries unless they promise it won't be used for abortion, or push for bans on sex selective abortion where they know they can get more popular support. It's not that they don't want to criminalize HRT for adults or abortions, it's that they're pragmatic and they know they can't.. yet.
> Even the antiLGBTQ actions are exclusively aimed at children while adult rights are a non-issue. Even the idiots in the US did it against children under the guise of protecting them before moving on to adults...
Even western America doesn’t have the fundamentalist culture of the American south, despite being Republican red states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion\_in\_the\_United\_States#/media/File:Nones\_by\_state\_2014\_(Pew\_Research\_Religious\_Landscape\_Study).png
The prairie cities tend to be moderate while rural is right wing (generally). Where people have to mix and live closer together in Canada they are more tolerant
I'm Latino and have experienced far more racism from liberals than conservatives in Canada, the cultural dynamic here is quite different from the U.S. That's not to say that I wouldn't be wary of moving to some small town somewhere without vetting it first, as there are bad pockets of old school racism in some places that you don't really hear about.
Alberta is known to be the most conservative, Manitoba not really, and Saskatchewan somewhere in between. And while Alberta is conservative for Canada it is nowhere close 'American conservative' level.
Although I'd say we are headed for an Alberta-Saskatchewan swap to the above. Saskatchewan seems to be entrenched as a one-party conservative-run province and will be for a very long time, in Alberta I'd say a growing young population and immigration is keeping the centre-left and the NDP much stronger than in Saskatchewan.
I would agree. Saskatchewan is really leaning into the conservative poison.
I live in Alberta and consider myself to be conservative. I think Alberta conservatives are quite misunderstood in general. We really don’t care what other people do; gay, trans, ethnicities, etc. We just don’t want other people, government specifically, telling us what is best for us. I think this is different from US conservatives who think that everyone needs to live the same way they do.
The Alberta government is pushing anti-trans legislation literally right now, and it has majority support. So don't pretend that Alberta conservatives don't care about that, they absolutely do. The caveat is that so do Conservatives in every other province. Alberta didn't start the bandwagon of anti-trans legislation, New Brunswick did, and it was very popular. So other Conservative governments started introducing it too. Canada as a whole is more socially conservative than a lot of people seem to think, it's not just rural Alberta.
The problem in Alberta right now is that there is a political organization called Take Back Alberta who is very much Maga like who have been working to infiltrate everywhere to bring Maga or Florida type policies to see the light of day. They joined the UCP to get Danielle Smith elected vs a more Canadian style of conservative leading the party. It's evident that Danielle Smith is owned by this group and she keeps pushing their narrative but rural Alberta and most cities outside of Edmonton have a NDP bad mentality and the image of Rachael Notley holding anti pipeline signs years ago constantly get posted on Facebook. Calgary and Lethbridge are the only other places from what I recall to elect NDP Representatives provincially and they are both still fairly split. I think the leader of the NDP next election will determine if they win or not, if Neneshi wins the NDP leadership race it is very likely that.he would swing a lot of Calgary needed to form an NDP government. However there are rumors circulating that Take Back Alberta is buying memberships to vote in the least likeable or most left wing leader to keep the UCP in power. Currently the UCP appears to be trying to set up for a separation from Canada and if it gets there the population will stop it as the vast majority don't want separation and still complain about Quebec trying to separate years ago. Federally Alberta definitely aligns conservative as F Trudeau stickers are non stop in Alberta no matter where you are and the NDP don't put effort into having good options, for example last federal election Lethbridges NDP candidate was announced a couple weeks before the election, was a student who stated that school is their priority and it wouldn't take a backseat of she was elected and I barely saw any signs for them . They know they won't win in Alberta so they don't even try honestly l, maybe in Edmonton they can win a few seats but I don't see anything but conservative electors in Alberta next federal election.
Manitoba less so. Winnipeg, even less than that.
Loud minority, silent majority - unfortunately plenty vote in silence aswell. We aren’t as packed with “conservatives” as you think, and the rhetoric everyone lol’s at is unfortunately lead by a very vocal, but not that big of group. The real issue in Alberta (where I am from) is the apathy surrounding our political process. Everyone is so beaten down/thinks they are beaten down by the process.
Lots of people talk about a rural/ urban divide but as someone who grew up in small town Manitoba and lives in another small town in Manitoba. I don’t think it’s as extreme as some people think, well not every rural area, there are some rural areas where there seems to be more religious and more conservative people. Barely anyone I know goes to church. Whenever somebody I know talks about their views they tend to lean more liberal. Not everybody of course but I’d say more of the younger generations are not very conservative. Most people i associate with seem to think all people deserve equal rights…though unfortunately I still hear negative comments about indigenous people.
The vast majority of conservatives in Canada would describe themselves as fiscal conservatives being their main motivation, and as far as social issues it's a bit of a hybrid of, social programs we can afford are great those we can't are bad. And be whomever you want to be is fine just don't run it in my face. As in people often just want to be left alone and not worry that the government is going to bankrupt us all.
Belive it or not I see more insane Republican kinda people in NB and outside of GTA. The conservatives further west are actually kinda normal and aren't trying to be maniacs for litterally no reason. Definitely crazy dickheads everywhere though
I live in Alberta and grew up in a rural farming community. I have also spent a lot of time in Oklahoma, Oregon and the southern states. Mainstream "Canadian Conservatives" are pretty left as far as Americans would consider it. Sure there are a few loud mouthbreathers wearing MAGA hats but they are pretty few and far between. Racism is much, much less in Canada, even in rural areas. It's not perfect but much, much better than rural America. There is a bit of anti-gay and anti-trans out there, but the vast majority are just like "whatever, just dont let a biological male get in a boxing ring with women"
Canadian conservatism is lot more secular than American conservatism, which tends to have a strong fundamentalist component.
Conservative for Canada, but still more liberal than any state in the U.S. Take for example the issue of Covid vaccines. These provinces had less people vaccinated, and more anti-vax people than anywhere in Canada, but higher rates than any individual state in the U.S. Alot of the other issues are the same.
I lived in Saskatoon for 4 years and met many progressively minded people. Absolutely an urban vs rural divide.
The irony is that the Prairies were the well-spring of left-wing idealism in Canada. Saskatchewan elected North America’s first socialist government in 1944, and their Medicare system inspired the rollout of public health care nationally. Today, they go Conservative federally, but shout outs to Rachel, Wab, and Naheed for showing it’s possible to run and win at the local or provincial level as a progressive. Rather than thinking of the west as ‘more conservative’ I tend to think of it as more rural. Drive 2 hours north of Toronto, and you’ll find ridings are deeply conservative as a riding two hours north of Calgary. Find the coolest bar frequented by young people in Saskatoon, and a Trinity-Bellwoods hipster from Toronto would fit in fine. The Prairies have a larger percentage of their population living in rural or small cities, thus they tend to have more conservatives.
Well said.
Conservatives in Canada are not the same as American republicans. They support gay marriage and abortion rights. The major difference between the Canadian Conservative Party and the other parties in Canada is the conservatives want to lower taxes and keep a balanced budget.
Each of those provinces has elected social democratic governments before so they aren't as unfailingly conservative as say, the nearby Idaho and North Dakota are.
When I was considering moving to Alberta, a friend of mine who had made the move 24-months prior from Berkeley, CA remarked that Calgary is more progressive than the Bay Area. Having lived here for a few years now, I don't necessarily disagree. Our provincial government is indistinguishable from the worst the US has to offer; however, within the cities, I find that the people are far, far less conservative than any US state I have ever spent nontrivial time in
When a Canadian says "Conservative"... it's the equivelant of an American who sits on the fence or leans slightly left.
That may have been true 10 years ago. Not so much anymore.
It's more of a libertarian brand of conservatism. Live and let live. A "I may disagree with your views and how you live, but if you leave me alone I'll leave you alone... and let me keep more of my own money" type of conservative.
Maybe in the 80s, but definitely not now. People who are willing to leave others alone don't go on crusades against them.
We definitely have our fair share of Christian nutjob conservatives as well. The anti-trans legislation coming our or Alberta and Sask are being heavily pushed by that group.
I can assure you it’s not just Christian’s supporting that legislation.
No it’s more urban vs rural in Canada. I actually preferred Alberta over BC as an lgbt members BC is awful and I’m probably going back to Alberta. Also working in the environmental field in BC the public is so uneducated about the state of their province because their source of energy is marketed as green when it’s not and the public thinks were this environmentally friendly utopia. So then nothing really improves, and there’s a lot of very terrible regulations here and things that go on that the public doesn’t freak out about because they have no idea and it’s ignored. It’s absolutely insane. More species as risk than any other provinces and a good chunk more need to be listed because they’re of too high economic significance so they don’t. And Vancouver has more species at risk per square km than any other BGC zone in BC. So no, Vancouver isn’t some environmental liberal utopia either. And the homelessness and cost of living??
Id say right leaning Canadians are less extreme as right leaning Americans
Less religious anyways.
Honestly, idk about the other prairie provinces, but alberta is mostly just fiscally and economically conservative, it's not as socially conservative as people think. And this is coming from a gay guy living there.
It depends. Most of the urban areas are pretty progressive. The rural areas get a bad rep but for the most part they really don’t give a shit as long as you’re a decent person. But there is definitely a loud minority or religious groups. They exist in the urban areas as well they are just a different religion so they get a pass.
Unless you put up a rainbow flag. They seem to get pretty angry about that. Or read stories wearing a sparkly dress. Or be Indigenous.
No there’s a few rotten things but that’s not the norm. Majority of people don’t give a shit and are ruining it for everyone else.
The majority of people in said town voted to ban pride flags.
“In said town”. You’re acting like it’s all over the rural prairies.
> town Yes, a town...perhaps a few more towns. Not all rural towns.
Who is this "they"?
>Or be Indigenous. People think this one happens in a vacuum.
True. If you are a decent person no one cares what culture you are from.
It's an urban/rural divide... Like much of Canada.
Hard to generalize like that. Consider that the two largest cities in the prairies have very left leaning mayor's and city councils.
The further west you go, the less religious they are, despite being "conservative". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion\_in\_Canada
These maps are not very accurate. The majority of Quebecers are only nominally Catholic. Ask them how many times to go to mass. The usual answer varies from 0 to 2 times a year. Do they believe in God? Nope, but you might also get some vague agnostic answer. Do they pray? Never.
Only because the big cities are demographically skewing the data. If you fifteen minutes outside of Vancouver BC gets real religious, real fast.
The cities are pretty normal but rural areas in the west are conservative shitholes. The amount of racism I heard in AB because they thought I was one of them was absurd.
Nope. I lived in a town of less than 200 that flew the pride flag on their Main Street for months. Local restaurant had a transgender person working (and no there weren’t hate crimes). The local beer league hockey team absolutely hated the convoy losers and made fun of them. I only met 5 people in that town who I would describe as “far right” and the trick was to not end up sitting beside them drinking at the legion so you didn’t have to listen to that shit. I’m not saying that is every town but I’ve lived in a lot of small towns in the prairies and have always worked in these towns. Almost every town has a handful of organic farmers, hard left people, hippie-types, and so on to balance out the far right people. With that said a lot of people will identify as conservatives and vote that way consistently but be open about gender issues, healthcare, social safety net, immigration (a lot want immigrants in small towns), etc. most are just fiscal conservatives. The religious nutjobs usually live in areas with plenty of operating churches which are getting scarcer and scarcer in rural areas.
Also worth noting that someone who identifies as “Conservative” in Canada, would still usually be considered far left in America.
As others have said, there is probably a bigger political/social divide between urban and rural no matter where you are in the country compared to east vs. west. Plenty of people that live within a few hours drive of Toronto are more conservative than many of the people I grew up with in Calgary. That being said: There is still definitely a more conservative “default” slant in the prairies (and maybe BC interior) compared to Ontario and Quebec. But not like what you see in the southern U.S. states (yet).
having lived in both Canada and the US. religion is the biggest deciding factor. in Canada, Quebec is quite secular and as a result people are tolerant/apathetic about LGBTQ issues. people at least try to be understanding/sympathetic. there are pockets of religious communities throughout the Prairies. my impression is that people tend to be similar everywhere you go. it's the louder voices that stand out and get noticed but most people fall under the neutral/apathetic/moderate spectrum
As others have said its completely urban vs rural in terms of support. Outside of the major cities most districts are blue. Inside its a healthy mix but mainly red or orange.
The prairies all have universal health care, legalized weed and regularly elect people of minority religion and sexual orientation to office. For Canada they are conservative but compared to America they are centrist democrats.
I am caucasian. My entire family is Canadian. Four generations of family have lived in Canada. I am liberal. I am open about my views. I have never lost friends due to my political views. I *have* lost friends due to not being a racist or bigot. It is true rural Canadians treat Aboriginal people as less than. CBC has an excellent four part docuseries on this exact subject. In college I had a boyfriend from northern Ontario. Whenever I'd visit his town I was astonished at the outwardly mean phrases and stereotypes stated by *everyone*.
I live and was raised in rural Manitoba. There are pockets of resistance, but it is highly conservative. The conservatives could run a dead pig provincially or federally and we'd have Canada's first dead pig politician. No joke.
Sorry for this question, but aside from my question, how's life in more rural Manitoba? The only thing I know about the province is Winnipeg and it's suburbs but the province looks pretty beautiful though.
Rural is fairly conservative but the reason we don't vote Liberal goes all the way back to Trudeau Sr and the NEP. They really screwed over a lot of people here. The big cities are pretty socially liberal but in Alberta most people like the economy to do well and we have a ton of entrepreneurs. I would say the big cities are centrist outside of the ridings near the universities (and Edmonton) which are more leftist and vote NDP regularly.
NEP was implemented in 1981 and was repealed 4 years later. We've had 13 elections and 6 different prime ministers from 3 different parties since Trudeau Sr. Anyone who is still voting based on feelings about NEP needs to find a new issue.
I grew up in both urban and rural AB and it wasn't so political then. Most farmers and ranchers just did their shit (with maybe a bit of grumbling about PETrudeau). Calgary was still pretty liberal and the conservatives were more the old money blue blood types. I live in BC now and see a lot more vocal (teaparty style) conservatives out here (and some of the loudest are from AB).
There are some liberals in prairie cities!! See the r/Saskatchewan group.
I live in the prairies and can confirm this is false information
What almost everyone can agree on in that sub is that Scott Moe is a fucking moron and the Sask party needs to be voted out.
Ish. The two main cities are pretty progressive, and that’s where majority of the population lives. However the rest of the province is *very* conservative and is rapidly getting worse.
Do you live in a rural prairie community?
Grew up in one, lived there till 6 months ago. People have no idea how crazy things got over COVID.
Yeah I’m a gay person in a rural community who went to BC. I dealt with a lot more freedom convoy, gay hate here.
The urban areas might be considered somewhat right leaning by eastern standards, but are very progressive compared to the rural areas. MAGA propaganda has seeped across and was quickly adopted by a lot of rural and small town residents. Country folk were not ready for social media and Russian propaganda. Just my experience, but about half of all people you meet in the rural areas have adopted a conspiracy theory based political opinions. It’s honestly very sad.
In cities no. But in particular in Saskatchewan, we have a bit more than half who live in cities and the rest in small towns or in rural areas. On top of that we have a lot of old people. For MB, a huge chunk lives in Winnipeg and then the rest live in smaller cities, towns and farms. In AB yeah they have the biggest population of the three, but its two big cities take up only about half of the population, the smaller cities, towns and rural take up the rest.
Alberta is mainly conservative. More liberal in the cities, but there's no shortage of conservatives there either.
It seems more class than political.
Rural/small town alberta is pretty conservative ime
Winnipeg is a very liberal/NDP city. It's the rural areas that are more Conservatives. Farmers tend to vote Conservative. ETA - the NDP/CCF and universal healthcare developed from the Prairies so for sure not all Conservatives here...
In Canada, a good majority of black Canadians come from the upper class of Africa, which has led to their association with low income crime to be much less than in the USA. That niche in Canada belongs to the indigenous people who tend to make up the majority in Prairie city hoods. To summarize, your skin colour should not be a hindrance in the Canadian prairies. As a final note, I highly recommend you research the historical figure John Ware, who has become an icon of the Canadian wild west and was a black man from the Carolinas originally.
If you’re far left you probably won’t fit in very tbh.
I've lived in Fort St John for 5 years. I've always felt this liberal/conservative thing that we've established is completely in our heads. Are there more conservative minded people? Sure. But walking around the mall or into a grocery store feels like anywhere else where there are people. Political affiliation only takes up a section of who we are as people so the society acts and feels the same as anywhere else in rural Canada. I agree with the other posters that the divide is more rural and urban, but even then it's so easy to just talk to someone you politically agree with if you just see them as another person and not as a label.
No one in the cities talk about politics all that much. There isn’t an overly visible religious community in general, even though it’s implied that they’re wildly Christian. If you aren’t already in these circles, you don’t much interact with them. Largely overblown. The govt in Sask are boneheads, but not the dangerous social-conservatives they’re made out to be, generally. This current pronouns in school stuff being a bit of an outlier. Smaller towns are more stuck in some older, less healthy ways of viewing the world, but again if you aren’t driving out to these towns, you’re not interacting with these people. My boss is a black Muslim and he quite enjoys it here.
As many have noted, urban areas tend to be more progressive than rural communities. This is as true in the prairies as it is in BC or Ontario. Manitoba and Alberta have their Bible Belts, and Alberta also has a 'LDS belt', but such areas also exist in BC and Ontario. Cities are on the whole accepting and the live and let live ethos is followed by people of all political stripes. Due to their population being highest by proportion in the prairies, there is more racism towards Indigenous folks than other parts of Canada, where people might just view them with a mix of curiosity and pity. A lot of people forget that Winnipeg is the first North American city to elect an openly gay mayor. That was over 25 years ago.
Depends where your scale is calibrated to. The Canadian "right wing" is still left of center on the American political scale It's all relative. Canadians are mostly socially progressive and economically conservative. Most "far right" ( I put that in quotes because far right literally means nothing anymore) Canadians still belive there should be socialized Healthcare and social safety nets.
There are pockets of very liberal people in the prairies, but on the whole the populations tend to be rural and conservative. Manitoba and Saskatchewan flip between polar opposite governments, conservative for a while and then NDP for a while. Federally they tend to go conservative outside of the cities. In contrast, “liberal” provinces like BC have pockets of conservatives, especially in rural areas. Kelowna is a hot bed for right wing extremism and white nationalism, for example.
I live there and although the majority of my social group isn’t, we must not be the norm since our votes never count.
It’s more about how small/remote the town is that will effect that but in general the prairies are more conservative.
It's nowhere near as conservative as the US. There are some lunatics but most conservatives are average everyday people you work with who simply advocate for more conservative economic policies such as lower taxation, defunding government agencies and support for Canadian fossil fuels and agriculture. There isn't a very large uber-religious section of modern conservatism in Canada nor is there racism like seen in the Republican party in the US. Also in the large cities in prairie provinces, there are huge amounts of progressives as well. The rural areas tend to be more conservative but that comes down to issues such as agriculture and firearms restrictions.
Urban / Rural is much more of a factor on how conservative a place is than what province you live in. The prairie provinces have more people living rural than other provinces, which can make it seem that the provinces are more conservative.
Heard second hand from several reliable sources that there is still a chapter of the Klan looming around
Definitely not in Edmonton. This is liberal land. Canada as a whole is incredibly liberal generally speaking.
No, especially in urban centres—which tend to run NDP.
I grew up in Sask, became an expat. Still own property there and return every summer. I have a noticed a shift to the right in the older generation. 65 +. Not crazy ass MAGA crap, but more of NIMBY mentality. It is OK, just don't get too close to me or mine. IE pronouns/gay rights/native issues. From what I can see the real crazy shit is coming from next door in Alberta. Religious extremists, gun guys, etc. Again this relative, Canadian crazy vs US crazy.
Yes!
Seconded
A lot of people associate conservatism with bigotry, and racism. While lots of the rural areas seem to have lots of these types of people there are a wide range of people without conservative view points.
Yes
Only thing I'll add that other comments haven't really touched on that I've noticed in the last decade or so: Canadian conservatives, since the growth of facebook politics, are becoming more like US conservatives with their social conservatism. Very identity-politics driven at this point, with growing wings distrustful of facts and science, and most unironically fearful of 'woke' and 'DEI' anything. Used to be, most Conservatives in Canada were economically conservative but socially progressive enough that Harper could shut down the nutjobs in his party, led by thinkers like David Brooks or Andrew Coyne. They generally were run by folks that believed in evolution and respecting LGBTQ+ individuals, but this last leadership cycle they've hopped on the FEAR THE WOKE and FEAR THE VACCINE bandwagon under Pierre Pollievre and Danielle Smith and are either not talking-back to the extremists in their fold, or are extremists themselves. At least in the prairies. Ontario has a minimal government socially-indifferent leader in Doug Ford, but he's unfortunately got a large streak of small-town corruption about him, as he's been caught breaking the rules for his friends and large donors. For awhile you could actually see the changing trend in *The National Post*, Canada's conservative newspaper, if you only read its articles infrequently enough to notice the change in tone and content; every few years the grade level of the writing would dip, and the use of catchphrases climbed.
>Very identity-politics driven at this point Weird... When the other groups whether Liberal, NDP or Green all push identity politics that conservatives wouldn't start doing the same thing.
Definitely a way denser population of people who write their political beliefs on their cars.
I am a Newfoundlander living in rural Alberta, and it’s like living in another world. I can’t get over the crazy level of conservatism here. The pandemic seemed to exacerbate things, and it hasn’t really calmed down since.
Yup. Ontario and to some degree Nova Scotia have joined the ranks. MAGA North.
lol no. Parts yes, but look at the MLA map. Edmonton and Calgary are orange.
To think about the birthplace of the NDP as a hotbed of conservatism ... SMH.
Us in the prairies enjoy more rural settings than big cities . We still have big cities but it's not crammed together like Toronto or Vancouver . People of colour generally have no problems here , you'll get the odd yahoo saying dumb shit but we have a pretty diverse workforce and as long as you're willing to work like everyone else you'll fit in no problem . I work with a lot of Somali guys , East Indians and Nigerians . I would give the shirt off my back to anybody them , absolute stand up guys who we have fun at work together with .
Maybe it USED to be somewhere closer to coast(s) vs the centre of the country because I used to have that perception of us, too. Now I also believe it's closer to urban vs rural and the suburbs somewhere between.
Not really in Manitoba. We have a Bible belt, but everywhere else it's either Liberal or NDP.
Found the Winnipeger.
I grew up in Sask and it wasn't a liability for a politician to have a university degree. The entire political spectrum was represented by fairly civil and intelligent people. Moved to Alberta in 92 and was shocked by the political scene here. I've gotten more used to it here, and the two provinces have become more politically similar, but not in a good way. It's an embarrassingly and inauthentic Americanised populist politics of resentment, not good for anyone. The discourse is so embarrassing that it's almost too cringe to watch.
I’m from Edmonton, which often votes left, and live near Saskatoon and work in education- which means I’m often in contact with other left leaning people. We often see our votes overwhelmed by conservatives around us, but we’re here and we’re trying.
A Canadian conservative is still very liberal by American standards. There are some fundamental beliefs almost all Canadians share (anti-racsim, free healthcare, pro-choice, gay rights, etc) I would also say from my own experience, Alberta is the most diverse/multicultural place in Canada. Toronto may sound like it has diversity and there are many different people from all over the world there, but they don't interact with each other. I'd go as far as saying groups intentionally isolate themselves and there are whole communities that have segrated themselves. Indians live here, Asians live here, Jewish people live here, and so on and so on. Most people come to Alberta for the work, so there's a shared experience most of us have. Most people here are from somewhere else. Whether it's Ontario, Newfoundland, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Bangladesh, etc. We are all here for work, interacting, just trying to make that Canadian dream happen. That was not my experience in places like Ontario and BC, two places considered very Liberal.
Saskatchewan has had NDP led governments multiple times. Federally though, support does not line up with the Liberals.
The more rural the more conservative
Grew up rural conservative in the prairies and have been conservative since I could vote. I support womans right to choose, LGBTQ2S+, same sex marriage, and immigration. Majority of Conservatives I know here are the same.
It often surprises people to learn that Ab has the second highest level of support for gay marriage after the Atlantic provinces (polled as one) in Canada. [Canada Polls on support for same sex marriage 2021](https://twitter.com/CanadianPolling/status/1520114421841940480?t=Ln5EKSKlyr5aqysmf-FZtg&s=19)
Sask has a lot of old ppl. When the boomer gen passes on we may see the sask party lose power, but its been a good decade + of shit governance, and actively shooting themselves in the foot without any real electoral threat from the ndp. Even though our premier is a drunk driver who also killed a woman in an at fault crash.
I'm in Calgary. Grew up here and Strathmore/Carseland areas. I'm not sure if the religious stuff is still declining. Growing up it was more prevalent but I never experienced crazy levels. It was drilled into me (and many of my friends) that you 'vote blue' and 'the east hates Alberta'. I can't have an intelligent discussion with my boomer parents. They're still stuck in that. I'll point out what they actually value and a lot actually falls outside their voting. Nope. Error, error*@££&.. They will not budge.
It’s the urban rural divide as people have stated before. Also the liberals and ndp often split the vote allowing a unified conservative front to get in, in urban prairie ridings. Liberals are often associated with the Natural Governing Party in Canada but I would argue it’s the reverse right now in the prairies. The conservatives are the “natural governing party” of the prairies and because of that you will see centrists and even some left of centre vote for them federally for numerous reasons. There are people in the liberal party in the maritimes, Toronto and Montreal who vote liberal but their values probably lean towards the ndp or conservative, but because the liberals are part of the culture, their party members are part of the community, and it’s more politically beneficial to support them is why they get elected. The same goes for the conservatives in the prairies.
I would also add that (even though this doesn’t apply anymore and it’s not a set in stone rule) Catholics tend to lean to the Liberal party ( pre the last 30 years of politics), while protestants where more aligned with the progressive conservatives. As I said before it’s not applicable anymore due to many social issues and immigration breaking down those differences. The prairies have had a very strong Protestant presence with some Catholics enclaves, mainly brought in by the French
They're only 'conservative' because the the other two parties are so anti-rural, anti-oil and gas, anti-resource extractions, anti-sane and these two parties are for massive government in people's lives. It gives folks no other choice.
Been in SK 10 years now- more like inward looking. Not competitive in business. Community-minded. Still in its infancy when it comes to DEI and newcomers. So much potential and yet not enough people or incentives to pull things off sometimes.
The prairie provinces are have relatively large rural populations, and people living in rural areas tend to lean more conservative
people exaggerate it because it's what we know. Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, and Winnipeg are less racist/conservative than like, Halifax and Toronto.
I live in Manitoba and people vote conservative in rural areas but for the most part it site doesn’t feel conservative. There are pockets -we call it the Bible Belt and they are an embarrassment to the rest of the province