Canadians Are Divided On Big Federal Issues

Toronto, Ontario - According to the latest Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll released today, Canadians are somewhat divided when it comes to Federal policy issues such as the Federal gun registry, same sex marriage, and Prime Minister Martin's healthcare plans. Only a very slim majority (52%) agree that Paul Martin should scrap the Federal gun registry. Matched up against four in ten (43%) who do not believe it should be dismantled.

Similarly, when asked whether the Federal government should amend marriage laws to allow same sex marriage, half agree (47%) that we should, while the other half (48%) say that we should not.

Prime Minister Martin's healthcare plans have received a tepid endorsement, as five in ten (48%) agree that Martin's healthcare plans are good. In contrast, three in ten (30%) do not view his plans positively, and one in five (22%) do not volunteer an opinion.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CTV poll conducted between January 13 and January 15th 2004. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1055 adult Canadians during each time frame. With a sample of this size, the results for each question are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Slim Majority Want to See Gun Registry Scrapped

A slim majority of Canadians (52%) agree that Paul Martin should get rid of Canada's Federal gun registry, with 37% strongly agreeing and 15% somewhat agreeing. Four in ten (43%) disagree with the suggestion that the Federal gun registry should be scrapped, one in seven (16%) somewhat disagreeing and three in ten (30%) strongly agreeing.

• Support for the elimination of the Federal gun registry is highest in British Columbia (64%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (64%), and Atlantic Canada (61%). Close to six in ten Albertans (57%) believe Paul Martin should get rid the Federal gun registry, while under half of Quebecois (48%) and Ontarians (45%) would like to see it dismantled.

• Older Canadians are more likely to want the Federal gun registry to be dumped then the younger, (43% aged 18-34, 53% aged 35-54, 59% aged 55+).

• Men are also more apt than women to want the Federal gun registry to be scrapped (58% of men vs. 46% of women).

• Over six in ten Canadians (64%) living in rural areas believe that the Prime Minister should eliminate the Federal gun registry, a significantly higher portion than the less than half (49%) of urban Canadians who believe so.

• As education level rises, level of agreement towards the abolition of the Federal gun registry abates (67% High school or less, 55% high school graduate, 55% Post Secondary education, 40% University degree or more).

Canadians Are Split About Same Sex Marriage

Canadians are split into two camps when it comes to the issue of whether Paul Martin should amend Canada's marriage laws to include same sex marriages. Half of Canadians agree (47%) that Paul Martin should change the laws to allow same sex marriage (21% somewhat agree, 26% strongly agree), while the other half (48%) disagree with this proposition (11% somewhat disagree, 38% strongly disagree). Only 5% of Canadians volunteer no opinion on this issue.

• Quebec and British Columbia where respondents are the only provinces where at least half of respondents are receptive to changing Canada's marriage laws (58% Quebec, 50% British Columbians).

• Urban respondents are significantly more likely to agree that Canada's should change Canada's marriage laws than are rural residents (49% urban vs. 41% rural).

• Women are significantly more apt to believe that Mr. Martin's government should change marriage laws to accommodate same sex couples than are men (51% women vs. 43% men).

• As education level rises, the respondents offer stronger levels of support for th reformationof marriage laws to allow same sex marriage (32% some high school or less, 42% high school education, 48% some post secondary or college diploma, 56% university degree or higher).

• Income level is also positively related to support for changing marriage laws to include same sex marriage (42%
• As respondents age, agreement level drops (60% 18-34, 48% 35-54, 33% 55+).

Martin's Healthcare Plans Receive Mild Endorsement

Canadians are tepidly enthusiastic about whether Prime Minister Martin has a good plan for dealing with our healthcare system. Five in ten respondents (48%) agree that Martin's healthcare plans are good (37%, somewhat agree, 11%, strongly agree), while three in ten (30%) do not view his healthcare plans in a positive light (19% somewhat disagree, 11% strongly disagree). One in five (22%) Canadians expressed no opinion about Mr. Martin's plans for our healthcare system.

• British Columbians (28%) are significantly less likely than all other Canadians to believe that Martin has a good plan for dealing with our healthcare system - from top to bottom are: Atlantic Canadians (54%), Quebecers (52%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (51%), Alberta (51%), and Ontario (50%).

• Those with higher levels of education are less likely to believe that Martin has a good plan for our healthcare system (59% some high school or less, 52% high school, 46% some post-secondary or college diploma, 43% University degree or more).

  Please open the attached PDF files to view the press release and detailed tables.

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  For more information on this news release, please contact:
  
  John Wright
  Senior Vice-President
  Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
  (416) 324-2900