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Karl Salgo, executive director of IOG’s Public Governance Exchange, said the survey underscores the tension between privacy and security that the government must manage as it boosts its digital presence.

These colliding principles of privacy and security are among issues to be wrestled with as the public service unrolls its Blueprint 2020 master plan to overhaul the public service.

“Canadians seem to be saying they recognize the legitimacy of surveillance activity but at the same time they are anxious about their own privacy,” said Mr. Salgo. “They recognize it’s necessary but they don’t want a police state or Big Brother spying on them.”

Environics Institute and the Ottawa-based Institute on Governance teamed up on the Canadian survey for the massive AmericasBarometer study that is conducted in 26 countries every two years.

About 1,541 Canadians answered that survey online last summer. Environics and the IOG also did a companion survey of 2,000 Canadians for their attitudes about governance and the public service. No margin of error can be given, but the two samples were weighted by region, age and gender to match Canada’s population.

The survey found the majority think their personal information is well or somewhat protected by government and at least as safe as information collected by the private sector such as banks, cable companies and health-care providers.

Among the rest, 25% thought the private sector did a better job than the federal government compared with the 17% who put more faith in the government.