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Canadians Are Deeply Unhappy. Why It’s a Sign of Trouble

People dissatisfied with their lives are all too ready to believe everything is broken

The casually displayed “F**k Trudeau” signs and flags that dotted Canada’s visual landscape in recent years were evidence of rising populist vitriol. The charitable interpretation would be that this vitriol reflected a deep and genuine discontent with the state of politics—that there was some comprehensible, if misguided, rationale behind the animosity.

People also bring a certain amount of emotional baggage to politics. We accept, indeed expect, our political leaders to resonate with our feelings: those who connect with voters viscerally seem more authentic. Populists likewise aim, and sometimes succeed, in exploiting this dynamic, channelling anger, frustration, and sometimes contempt toward elites and the state of society.

People drawn to right-wing populism are governed by ideas that cast their lives in a broadly negative light. Simply put, unhappy people seem to be particularly drawn to right-wing populism. But for such dissatisfaction to give rise to right-wing populism, there has to be a narrative—a deep story—that connects discontent to the flawed workings of society, its politics, and its elites. This story has to be delivered by a persuasive messenger who succeeds in reaching those most apt to say: Yes—this is what explains how I feel!

A substantial and growing pool of dissatisfied people is a vulnerability that can be exploited by those with a populist agenda. Canada appears to fit this description.

The World Happiness Report documents life satisfaction scores for roughly 150 countries, based on surveys conducted by Gallup. For eight years in a row, Finns have topped the rankings, with other Scandinavian countries occupying upper positions. In the first report in 2012, Canada was also in this group, ranking fifth. In subsequent years, we remained in the top ten. Recently, however, we have lost ground, falling to eighteenth place as of 2025.

Although we are still doing comparatively well, our decline has been one of the steepest among all countries, as average life satisfaction on the ten-point scale used in the Gallup polls fell from 7.48 in 2012 to 6.80 in 2025. Only seventeen other countries from a total 147 saw a greater decline.

The 2024 World Happiness Report, which took a close look at variations in life satisfaction across age groups, found that Canada fared much worse among those under age thirty. Canada sat in fifty-eighth place with an average life satisfaction score of 6.44. The trends mirror developments in the United States, which has fallen from eleventh to twenty-fourth (since the 2012 report) and now ranks sixty-second among those under thirty.

A second data source offers further insight. This is a long-standing series of Statistics Canada surveys, including the General Social Survey (GSS) series beginning in 2003, as well as a new initiative, the Canadian Social Survey, which began in 2021. The results from the Statscan studies are broadly consistent with the Gallup polling. Life satisfaction scores in the upper range have dropped considerably over time, from nearly 70 percent on the 2003 GSS survey to just 45 percent in 2024.

At the low end of the happiness charts—where populist sentiment is most likely to take root—fewer than 10 percent of Canadians back in 2003 reported a life........

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