Pubdate: Sat, 20 Oct 2012 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2012 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 Author: Jeff Davis THE NEW SOCIAL CONSENSUS The Social Science Research Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan - the only facility of its kind in Canada - created the Taking the Pulse survey in its group analysis lab, which includes multiple departments from across the faculty of arts and sciences. Their survey found social views in Saskatchewan are turning sharply away from conservatism toward progressive attitudes including support for gay marriage, medical marijuana use and doctor-assisted suicide. decade into the 21st century, Saskatchewan's social views are turning sharply towards the progressive, according to a sweeping new social attitudes survey conducted by the University of Saskatchewan. A decade into the 21st century, Saskatchewan's social views are turning sharply towards the progressive, according to a sweeping new social attitudes survey conducted by the University of Saskatchewan. Many traditional conservative values held for generations in Saskatchewan have slipped, giving way to more permissive metropolitan views, according to social scientist Loleen Berdahl. "We've seen an increase in progressive attitudes over time," Berdahl says. "These are big generational shifts." A project leader at the university's Social Science Research Laboratory, Berdahl played a key role in the Taking the Pulse survey, which collected the views of 1750 Saskatchewan residents through a 15-minute telephone survey. The survey found that a majority now support gay marriage, medical marijuana use, abortion and doctor-assisted suicide. Residents in this province are becoming wealthier, more urbanized and less religious, Berdahl says, factors that generally lead to more liberal opinions on contentious social issues. And attitudes are changing fastest among those under age 35, she says. "(An older) generation's extremely progressive is their generation's normal," Berdahl says. "Certain things have become normalized that I think for a long time never seemed like they would." Rural residents are proving more reluctant to adopt these new values, survey results show. While most rural dwellers support gay marriage, abortion rights, medical marijuana and doctor-assisted suicide, levels of support there are lower than in urban centres. Berdahl says it will take time, but these places will likely soon get "caught up" to more progressive views held in urban centres. The "quite remarkable" decline in religious attendance has been a major driver of attitude changes, especially vis-a-vis abortion rights, she says. A full 70 per cent of survey respondents now agree that abortion is a matter of choice between a woman and her doctor. "If you did this survey 30 or 40 years ago, these things would have been very different," Berdahl says. Christine Smith, executive director of Planned Parenthood Regina, is pleased to see public opinion side so strongly with a woman's right to choose what happens with her body. The acceptance of abortions results in greater health for mothers and children, Smith says, as mothers avoid self-abortions and back street abortions. "It's great that people are understanding the need for women to have rights over their own bodies," she says. "The right to an abortion is key to women's rights in general." Attitudes have also shifted on the issue of same-sex marriage, which is now supported by 67 per cent of Saskatchewan residents, according to the survey. Jen Green, a 37-year-old special education teacher at a Saskatoon high school, came out of the closet a year and a half ago. Green says she is "pleasantly surprised" at the high levels of support for gay marriage in the province, and that the survey results contradict her idea of Saskatchewan being a pretty conservative place. "It's less scary to be a gay or lesbian teacher than it would have been," she says. "It was not acceptable 10 years ago but now it's no big deal." Attitudes have changed so much, Green says, that the Saskatchewan Straight And Gay Alliance - a Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation council for LGBT teachers - is shutting down due to diminishing need for support among gay teachers. Green says her students have become very open-minded and accepting of different sexual orientations, and have taken those lessons home with them. "As kids are getting more open-minded they're educating their parents more and more," she says. But while these attitudes are changing quickly in urban centres, Green says, not so much has changed in smaller communities. "My partner is a teacher also and she can't come out at all," Green says. "She's in a very small town in rural Saskatchewan." Support for legalizing suicide is much less enthusiastic. Only 56 per cent of respondents said people with terminal illnesses should be allowed to legally access doc-tor-assisted suicide. Attitudes toward medical marijuana use have relaxed, with a full 77 per cent of Saskatchewan residents now agreeing that marijuana should be legal for medical purposes. There is robust support for the use of medical marijuana to alleviate pain for people suffering from cancer and other ailments, Berdahl says. Despite this, the survey says, only 38 per cent of Saskatchewan residents support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. While people believe marijuana can help in some specific circumstances, Berdahl says, public concern over drug use and proliferation remains strong. "The concerns of social spillover don't exist for medical marijuana," she said. "But recreational marijuana feeds into a larger drug culture and drug trade." Bucking the trend toward more liberal values is the 56 per cent public support for the re-introduction of capital punishment for people convicted of first degree murder. This public lust for blood is stoked by particularly heinous crimes, Berdahl says, such as the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of eight-year-old Ontario girl Victoria Stafford in 2009. "There are some issues that occur in society that bring out that need for retribution," Berdahl says. "I don't know if that will ever go away." Immigrants to the province are decidedly less supportive of the death penalty, voicing only 48 per cent support in the survey. Grace Mbuekor, who migrated to Saskatchewan from Nigeria with her family in the 1980s, says immigrants from violent countries have learned the hard way that acts of state violence do little good. She says the days of "an eye for an eye" are better left in the Old Testament. "The death penalty is not the solution," she says. "Why don't you leave the person in jail with the guilt about what they have done." Highly educated, wealthy immigrants - who are coming to Saskatchewan in ever greater numbers - are also helping to infuse more progressive, metropolitan values into the province Ber-dahl says. Mbuekor agrees. "People think that because you are from a violent country the tendency is to think you will be violent," she says. "That's wrong." Long-term trend lines are pointing strongly toward Saskatchewan becoming increasingly progressive over time, Berdahl says, especially as education levels increase and older generations pass on. "Young people have more progressive attitudes," she said. "As we have generational replacement, we're going to see that." [sidebar] THE SURVEY Taking the Pulse was administered as a 15-minute telephone survey from March 5, 2012 to March 19, 2012. The survey resulted in 1,750 completed interviews among randomly-selected Saskatchewan residents, 18 years of age and older. Results of the survey, which generated a response rate of 34.3%, are generalizable to the Saskatchewan population (18 years of age and older) 2.34% at the 95% confidence interval (19 times out of 20). - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom