The poll for the Association for Canadian Studies and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada found 65 percent of 1,501 people contacted disagreed with the statement "Canadian and U.S. culture are basically the same," the newspaper said.

The number dropped when respondents were asked about the statement: "all North Americans share certain values that are different from those of the rest of the world," to which 59 percent agreed.

For the values question, a gender difference was seen, with 68 percent of males agreeing compared with 51 percent of females, the Gazette said.

The national survey was conducted Jan. 31-Feb. 4 by Leger Marketing and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, the pollster said.