The Canadian population of Northern Pintail is at least moderately well monitored by three programs. The Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) is considered the most reliable, as it is designed for monitoring waterfowl, samples a fair proportion of the breeding range and has high precision. The continental Christmas Bird Count (BBS) analysis may provide a broader sampling of the population, but has less standardized methods. The reliability of the Breeding Bird Survey (RON) is limited to medium by both its extent of coverage and precision. The WBPHS shows fairly notable inter-annual fluctuations, but overall a large decline of 77% relative to 1970. Unlike many other waterfowl that rebounded after drought conditions in the 1980s, the Northern Pintail population continued to decline. The CBC shows a similarly large long-term decrease of 80%, although with the majority of the decline occurring in the 1970s and 1980s. The BBS trend is also similar, with a cumulative loss of 83% since 1970. The consistency among the sources allows for very high confidence that a large decrease has occurred. 

The goal for Northern Pintail is to maintain is to maintain a population of at least 1.9 million individuals within the area sampled by the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey. This is based on the North American Waterfowl Management Plan's goal of 4,003,000 individuals across the survey's full range, but adjusted to reflect the average proportion of the breeding population in Canada (48%). Data from the Canadian portion of the range indicate that Northern Pintail is currently below its goal.