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Manitobans are happy, and they know it

Nine out of 10 are living the good life, report finds

By: Geoff Kirbyson

Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2012 at 8:38 AM | Comments: 0

Hello, world, here's a song that we're singing (in Manitoba and Canada) -- Come on, get happy!

A new report from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards found more than 90 per cent of Canadians say they're either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their lives.

Manitobans, as they do with so many country-wide surveys, fell right in line with the national average -- 91.8 per cent -- with 91.6 per cent.

The Ottawa centre came to its conclusions by tracking numbers collected by Statistics Canada in its community health surveys between 2003 and 2011. Canada's scores were enough to secure its spot as the second most-happy country in the world, trailing Denmark.

"I think we're a fortunate country," said Andrew Sharpe, the centre's executive director. "We have a high standard of living, a good health system, there are opportunities for education and we don't have political crises like other countries do."

Contrary to popular belief, however, money isn't the primary cause of our unbridled joy. Leading factors include mental and physical health, friends and family, low stress levels and being married, Sharpe said.

"Generally, the rich tend to be slightly happier than the poor. But getting more money over time, you get a kick out of the raise, then you spend it and ramp up your consumption and you're no happier than you were before," he said.

The survey's results came as no surprise to Marian Morry, a professor in social psychology at the University of Manitoba. She said much of people's happiness is derived from employment and security.

"Manitoba's (economy) is very consistent. We have a lot to be happy about. Our employment, our wages and our housing prices are very consistent," she said.

The fact Manitoba has experienced back-to-back years of unseasonably warm winters and scorching-hot summers -- with a distinct lack of mosquitoes -- has undoubtedly dramatically reduced the number of cases of SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

"People used to talk about how the winters were so nasty and they'd feel depressed. We're not getting that depression anymore because we can be outside in the winter more often. With fewer mosquitoes, we can get more exposure to nature (in the summer), whether it's in our own backyard or hiking in the woods. That increases our own sense of well-being," she said.

The fact the NHL returned to Winnipeg last year, the pending arrival of IKEA and some mega-construction projects, such as the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, that are nearing completion are giving Winnipeggers a new sense of hope, she said.

"It makes us feel special that IKEA is paying attention to us. People worked very hard to get the Jets to come back. Being successful at that and showing the rest of the league that we can sell out for five years and lead the other teams in merchandise sales, there's pride in that. That makes us feel happy about our city and our province," she said.

The Statistics Canada data, compiled biennially between 2003 and 2007 and then annually from 2008 to 2011, asked Canadians to rank their level of satisfaction from one to 10.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

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