Harper least trusted. Media at dismal 6% approval.

The good news.

The survey found only 16 per cent of Canadians place “a lot of trust” in their Prime Minister, putting Stephen Harper near the bottom among all leaders in the Americas.

“In an international context, Harper has a lower level of trust than almost every other national leader in the hemisphere,” Mr. Neuman said.

The levels of trust are also low for the Canadian Parliament (17 per cent), political parties (10 per cent) and mass media (6 per cent). The findings come after Canada lived under a series of minority governments from 2004 to 2011, fuelling a sense of growing partisan bickering in Ottawa.

The bad news.

Still, the survey found little appetite for major changes to Canadian institutions or the governance regime, with large numbers of respondents feeling that they can make their views heard in the political process.

“There is no groundswell for an overhaul of the system,” Mr. Neuman said of the results.

A large number of Canadians have trust in institutions such as the Canadian Forces (53 per cent) and the RCMP (36 per cent)

It’s great that Canadians are smarter than we on the left have given them credit for the last few years. But it’s also puzzling how just over a third of the country still has faith in the RCMP, as corrupt as it has shown itself to be in the same time period.

Even worse is the lack of will for change shown by Canadians. While Harper is deeply distrusted, not enough of us want to do anything about it.

One must keep in mind that these numbers include Albertans and immigrants, both wedded to Conservatives no matter what. Taking those factors out of the equation and Harper would be gone and the RCMP overhauled.

Not at all surprising is the frighteningly dismal 6% trust in the media. Can you blame Canadians? We are not being given a fair accounting of the news, especially by the opinion columnists whose rah rahing for the Conservatives has become embarrassing.

It doesn’t help them that when we see them rally around their contemporaries who have been caught engaging in bad behaviour. Need I say Wente, Blatchford, Levant? Not to mention that 90% of said media is firmly in the pocket of the Conservative Party.

Does this survey result mean the media will make a better effort to represent all Canadians? Hell no! It’s not in their DNA. Nor is it in the political interests of their corporate owners.

X-posted at Let Freedom Rain