Just tried this.
I get the answer plus a ton of highly relevant links relating to population, StanCan sources, etc.
I think this is exactly what most users want: Show me the answer quickly without making wade through links - but provide me the links if I want to do more research on my own.
These featured snippets are great for Google, because they keep you on their search pages longer. But they're bad for the websites because they can completely lose your visit, even though they're the ones who created the content.
These snippets also take up more space on top of the page and along with more ads, it means fewer organic links are appearing on the first page.
Like, if I type a math formula or "what's the population of Alberta", the Google result is just the number, not a link to the result.
Or if I want to search for a product or local business.