CanadaSpeaks! 2022
A National Public Opinion Poll
On Health and Medical Research
National Poll Results | Press Release | Key Messages
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Key Findings from the CanadaSpeaks! 2022 Poll
Canadians continue to be convinced that Canada should be a global leader in health and medical research:
- 87% of Canadians believe Canada should be a global leader in health and medical research—a slight decrease from the 91% of Canadians who believed the same in 2019.
Similarly, Canadians continue to view health and medical research as making an important contribution to both the healthcare system and the economy:
- 89% of Canadians say that health and medical research makes an important contribution to the health care system, a rate consistent with three years ago (91%). Notably, however, fewer Canadians consider it to be a very important contributor (52% in 2022 compared to 61% in 2019).
- When it comes to the economy, the contributions of health and medical research remain as important now as in 2019 for Canadians (80% compared to 81% in 2019). More notable, however, is the increased percentage of Canadians who consider it a very important contributor compared to a decade ago (39% in 2022 compared to 28% in 2012).
There continues to be a strong view among Canadians that health and medical research should be funded directly by the federal government:
- 81% of Canadians agree that basic research is necessary and should be supported by the federal government.
- However, there has been a downward trend in this belief over the past seven years, going from 92% in 2015 to 88% in 2019.
Despite these downward trends, the majority of Canadians believe that the federal government should be spending more on health and medical research:
- 6 out of 10 Canadians think that the federal government’s funding of health and medical research—currently $4.3 billion—should be higher than it is now. Just three per cent (3%) think it should be lower.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led most Canadians to realize the importance of health and medical research:
- 6 out of 10 Canadians said that they now think health and medical research is more important compared to before the pandemic.
This research was conducted by Maru/Blue between September 16 and 17, 2022, and was an online survey of 1,518 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists. The survey has a margin of error of of +/-2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada.
For inquiries, please contact Christie Tomkins, Manager of Policy and Public Affairs at ctomkins@rc-rc.ca.