ONTARIO — The vast majority of rural Canadians are worried about the healthcare system, and to an even greater degree than other parts of the country, according to a recent survey by Leger and The Association for Canadian Studies.
The survey found that 90 % of rural residents reported being worried over the state of their province’s healthcare system, compared with 85 % of urban and suburban Canadians. Atlantic Canada as a whole registered the highest amount of worry, at 94 %.
Rural Canadians were also more likely to say their province doesn’t spend enough on healthcare (71 %) than their urban (67 %) and suburban (69 %) counterparts. Rural residents were also more likely to say their province has a shortage of nurses (92 %) than urban (82 %) and suburban (86 %) respondents.
Rural Canadians were also most concerned about not receiving good care if they went to an emergency room (67 %), slightly behind urban and suburban residents (both at 68 %).
In rural and suburban Canada, 64 % of respondents agreed it was difficult to access healthcare in their province, with urban Canada at 61 %.
The survey included 1,554 Canadian adults — 305 of them rural — over a two-day period in January. It was conducted using computer-assisted web interviewing technology, which allows interviews to be conducted over the internet.
