Most Canadians think of themselves as cool, sexy and polite: survey

Revellers take a photo during Canada Day festivities on July 1, 2013 in Ottawa. Photo: Cole Burston/For Ottawa Citizen

A new survey finds that Canadians overwhelmingly think of themselves as cool, sexy and polite.

The online survey of 1,000 Canadians, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Historica Canada, shows Canadians have generally positive views about the country and believe it to be an open and welcoming place.

Ninety-three per cent of respondents agree that “Canada is welcoming towards minority cultural groups” and that “Canadians are free to express who they are.” The poll also shows that people are not as modest as national stereotypes would have you believe, with 75 per cent describing Canadians as sexy, 89 per cent as cool, and 92 per cent as polite.

“Heading into Canada’s birthday, the results of the survey show that there might not be a better time to be a Canadian,” John Wright, senior vice president of Ipsos Reid, said in a release Monday. “Canadians from across the country greatly believe our nation allows us the freedom to express who we want to be, while welcoming others with open arms, which is a heritage we are all proud of.”

Not all the survey findings were encouraging, though. Almost half of respondents (44 per cent) did not know Canada’s 150th birthday is in 2017 and 11 per cent do not know the first line of O Canada.

At 81 per cent, most Canadians agree that “Canadians should express more patriotism,” while 19 per cent disagree.

The full survey results are available on the Historica Canada website (PDF).