A famed Quebec pollster claims to have gotten inside the head of Quebecers with a new book.
Jean-Marc Leger and Jacques Nantel’s book Cracking the Quebec Code: The 7 keys to understanding Quebecers was released Monday in bookstores.
The founder of the polling firm Leger spent three years trying to decode the mental profile of Quebecers, ending up with 400 words that he distilled to seven common characteristics he said define the province’s population.
Those seven characteristics, he said, are: joie de vivre, easygoing, non-committal, victim, villagers, creative and proud.
The 192-page book also speaks of how poverty, information, sports and religion are connected to the Quebec identity, and he says the study will show that Quebecers and the rest of Canada have plenty in common; in fact, as much as 71 per cent of the attitudes and behaviours of English Canadians and French Quebecers overlap, he writes.
Still, he posits, there are plenty of differences, including placing more value on joie de vivre than our fellow Canadians.
Nantel, professor emeritus at HEC Montreal, said these characteristics are not stereotypes, but are based in truth.
“We’re offering Quebecers a portrait of themselves, and some like it and some like it less,” he said, saying it’s like looking in the mirror – “without Photoshop.”
He hoped Quebecers would use his findings to understand each other better, and to improve themselves.
"A non-complacent picture of themselves. if they can understand that they were not meant to be small fry but they were not meant to rule the world. They are who they are with their pluses and minuses," said Nantel.
The book also delves into regional differences and the multiple "tribes" that make up Quebec -- including Anglophones, who share many characteristics, if not always to the same extent, as their francophone counterparts.
The book is in part based on surveys by Quebecers over 30 years of Leger’s career as a marketing guru, but also includes interviews with many Quebec personalities and influencers.
