Half of Canadians say governments are hiding something about COVID-19: poll

OTTAWA — According to a new poll, half of Canadians believe they’re not getting the whole truth from their governments about COVID-19.

Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies found 50 per cent of those polled felt governments were deliberately withholding information about the viral outbreak.

The pollsters also asked 1,510 adult Canadians selected from an online panel between May 22 and May 25 about specific theories that have circulated online about the virus. 

Few of those who responded believe Bill Gates is responsible for the spread of the novel coronavirus, that there’s a link between the pandemic and 5G networks, or that COVID-19 never existed in the first place.

But 37 per cent of people believe that the virus was created in a lab, and 34 per cent think it was created by the Chinese government.

Of the nine theories put forward, more than half of people polled agreed with at least one of them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press