Canadians' Views On Future Canada-US Relations

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos-Reid survey conducted on behalf of the Council of Canadians and the Polaris Institute, when told that "the Federal Government wishes to repair the relationship between Canada and the US that has been hurt by differences of opinion on measures to deal with terrorism and the War in Iraq," a vast majority of Canadians (91%) agree with the statement "Canada should maintain the ability to set its own independent environmental health and safety standards and regulations, even if this might reduce cross-border trade opportunities with the United States." Another nine in ten (90%) Canadians believe that "Canada should establish an energy policy that provides reliable supplies of oil, gas and electricity at stable prices and on protection of the environment, even if this means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership of Canadian supplies."

Three-quarters (77%) of Canadians agree that "Canada's limited military spending should be used to enhance our abilities in peacekeeping and conflict resolution rather than trying to maintain multi-purpose forces intended for heavy combat alongside US military forces." Moreover, seven in ten (69%) of Canadians disagree with the statement "Canada should actively support the Bush administration's missile defence system even if it may require dedicating military spending to the program or allowing US missile launchers in Canada."

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Canadian Council/Polaris Institute poll conducted between March 23rd and March 25th, 2004. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1056 Canadian adults. With a sample of this size, the results 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.

When told that "the Federal Government wishes to repair the relationship between Canada and the US that has been hurt by differences of opinion on measures to deal with terrorism and the War in Iraq", a majority of Canadians (91%) agree with the statement "Canada should maintain the ability to set its own independent environmental health and safety standards and regulations, even if this might reduce cross-border trade opportunities with the United States," (56% "strongly agree", 34% "somewhat agree"). Only 9% disagree with this statement (3% "strongly disagree", 6% "somewhat disagree").

• A large majority (96%) of those living in British Columbia agree that "Canada should maintain the ability to set its own independent environmental health and safety standards and regulations, even if this might reduce cross-border trade opportunities with the United States." Following residents of British Columbia those most likely to agree are residents of Atlantic Canada (92%), Ontario (90%), Quebec (90%), Alberta (87%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (87%).

A statement which nine in ten (90%) Canadians agree with is, "Canada should establish an energy policy that provides reliable supplies of oil, gas and electricity at stable prices and on protection of the environment, even if this means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership of Canadian supplies" (54% "strongly agree", 36% "somewhat agree.") Only 8% of Canadians disagree with this statement (3% "strongly disagree", 5% "somewhat disagree.")

• Residents of Ontario (93%) are the most likely to say that "Canada should establish an energy policy that provides reliable supplies of oil, gas and electricity at stable prices and on protection of the environment, even if this means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership of Canadian supplies", followed closely by residents of British Columbia (92%), Alberta (89%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (88%), Quebec (88%), and Atlantic Canada (83%).

Three-quarters (77%) of Canadians agree (48% "strongly agree", 29% "somewhat agree") that "Canada's limited military spending should be used to enhance our abilities in peacekeeping and conflict resolution rather than trying to maintain multi-purpose forces intended for heavy combat alongside US military forces." Two in ten (21%) Canadians disagree (9% "strongly disagree", 12% "somewhat disagree") with the statement.

• Atlantic Canadians (80%) are the most likely to say "Canada's limited military spending should be used to enhance our abilities in peacekeeping and conflict resolution rather than trying to maintain multi-purpose forces intended for heavy combat alongside US military forces", followed closely by residents of Ontario (79%), British Columbia (78%), Quebec (77%), Alberta (73%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (72%).

• Canadians aged 18-54 (80%) are more likely than those aged 55 and older (72%) to agree with the statement.

• Those with a university degree or greater (82%) are more likely than those with some high school education or less (69%), those with a high school education (78%), and those with some post-secondary education or a college diploma (75%) to agree.

Furthermore, seven in ten (69%) Canadians disagree with the statement "Canada should actively support the Bush administration's missile defence system even if it may require dedicating military spending to the program or allowing US missile launchers in Canada" (48% "strongly disagree", 21% "somewhat disagree"). Three in ten (29%) agree with this statement (9% "strongly agree", 20% "somewhat agree").

• Residents of British Columbia (77%) are the most likely to disagree that "Canada should actively support the Bush administration's missile defence system even if it may required dedicating military spending to the program or allowing the US missile launchers in Canada" followed by residents of Quebec (74%), Atlantic Canada (68%), Ontario (67%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (64%), and Alberta (57%).

• Women (76%) are more likely than men (62%) to disagree with the statement.

• Canadians with a university degree (78%) are more likely than others (65%) to disagree with the statement. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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  For more information on this news release, please contact:
  
  Darrell Bricker
  President & C.O.O
  Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
  (416) 324-2900