Canadians are not at all satisfied with their government, and their opinion of Canada’s cable companies isn’t all that much better.

According to a national consumer study just released by the National Quality Institute, government ranks last in overall service quality – just beating out cable companies as the least-loved sector in the country.

The survey, conducted by ACNielsen, garnered over 10,000 responses to a mailed-out questionnaire asking adults to rate the quality of both the products they purchase and the service they receive from firms in 21 sectors.

While the government ranked last in every category (receiving a failing grade in each one), cable companies managed to score second last in three – overall service (61.1%), level of courtesy (68.7%) and after-sales service (55.1%).

Meanwhile, thanks perhaps to the introduction of competition, the telephone companies ranked No. 1 in terms of perceived changes in service quality, with 35.5% of those surveyed saying service has improved. Phone companies were about average on the overall service quality scale, with 80.7% of those surveyed ranking their phone service good or excellent.

If government agencies and cable companies want to know where to turn for advice on delivering better quality service and products, they should look no further than Canada’s pharmacies, which topped the list in almost all categories, including overall service quality, service attributes (prompt service delivery), level of courtesy and after-sales service.

This country’s hotels, credit unions and small retailers were also high up on the list, while the trench was shared with large retailers and postal services.