Canada Takes Gold in World Opinion

The Olympics are just about to start, but whatever you think of them and whatever comes out of them Canada has already taken gold in the court of world opinion.

According to the CBC, a new survey conducted for the British Broadcasting Corporation's World Service asked 28,000 people in 27 countries (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Lebanon and Nigeria) to give their opinions of 12 countries (Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the United States and Venezuela).

Israel was viewed negatively by 56 per cent of respondents and positively by 17 per cent; for Iran, the figures were 54 per cent and 18 per cent. The U.S. had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 per cent citing it as a bad influence and 30 per cent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 per cent and positively by 19 per cent.
Canada had the most positive rating in the survey, with 54 per cent viewing it positively and 14 per cent negatively. It was followed by Japan and France.
Respondents were also asked their views of the 27-member European Union; 53 per cent saw it as positive and 19 per cent as negative.