Seven-in-ten Canadians express confidence in the health care system being there to provide help and assistance.
Vancouver, BC [August 20, 2026] – Canadians identify two main setbacks when assessing the health care system right now, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, 31% of Canadians (-4 since a similar Research Co. poll conducted in May 2025) say a shortage of doctors and nurses is the biggest problem facing the health care system, while 28% (+5) cite long wait times.
Bureaucracy and poor management is third on the list of concerns with 12% (-4), followed by inadequate resources and facilities with 11% (+2).
Fewer Canadians are primarily worried about a reduced focus on preventive care (7%, +2), a lack of a wider range of services for patients (4%, -2) and insufficient standards of hygiene (3%, +1).
More than half of Canadians (55%, +1) believe there are some good things in Canada’s health care system, but many changes are required.
One-in-five Canadians (20%, -3) believe Canada’s health care system works well, and only minor changes are needed to make it work better, while the same proportion (20%, +3) feel Canada’s health care system has so much wrong with it that we need to completely rebuild it.
The notion of a full overhaul of Canada’s health care system is more popular in Atlantic Canada (30%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (26%).
Seven-in-ten Canadians (70%, -1) are “very confident” or “moderately confident” that Canada’s health care system would be there to provide the help and assistance that they would need if they had to face an unexpected medical condition or disease.
Confidence in the availability of medical services at a time of need is higher among Canadians aged 55 and over (74%, =) than among their counterparts aged 18-to-34 (69%, -1) and aged 35-to-54 (67%, -2).
Only 20% of Canadians (-4) believe the federal government should make cuts to health care funding in order to reduce government debt, while 72% (+1) disagree with this idea.
Majorities of Canadians who voted for the Liberal Party (77%), the New Democratic Party (NDP) (69%) or the Conservative Party (64%) in the April 2025 federal election disagree with enacting cuts to health care funding.
More than a third of Canadians (37%, +1) believe health care in Canada would be better than it is now if it were run by the private sector, while almost half (49%, +1) reject this notion.
“More than two-in-five men in Canada (43%) believe that Canada’s health care system would improve in the hands of the private sector,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Only 30% of Canadian women concur.”
Just over half of Conservative voters in the last federal election (51%) think health care in Canada would be better than it is now if it were run by the private sector—a view shared by 34% of those who cast ballots for the Liberals or the New Democrats.
Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from August 5 to August 7, 2026, among 1,001 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca