Canadians on Whether or Not General Boyle Should Resign as Chief of Defence Staff

As the "Somalia Inquiry" continues, a narrow majority of Canadians now believe that General Jean Boyle should resign his position as Canada's Chief of Defence Staff. These findings emerged from a National Angus Reid/Southam News Poll conducted among a representative cross-section of 1,516 Canadian adults between September 20th and 29th. The highlights:

Just over half (53%) of Canadians surveyed said they believe that General Boyle should resign in light of the issues raised through the Somalia Inquiry concerning charges of misconduct and other problems in the Canadian military. This compares to 37 percent who supported his retaining his position as head of the Canadian Armed Forces. Ten percent of respondents were unsure of their opinion on this matter.

Regionally, calls for General Boyle's resignation were in the majority from Alberta (61% -- Canada's regional high point) to Quebec, with a plurality of British Columbians also in concurrence. Atlantic Canada marks the only region where a plurality (48%) said General Boyle should not resign (versus 43% who said he should).

Viewed from a socio-demographic perspective, public opinion is largely consistent across all descriptors, although criticism of General Boyle's performance appears to increase with age -- fully six in ten (62%) older Canadians surveyed said he should resign. These results also show a consistent pattern when viewed by Canadians' federal party allegiances.

Canadians' views on General Boyle no doubt reflect the current climate of opinion on the Canadian armed forces as a whole: a National Angus Reid/Southam News Poll conducted in July found almost half of Canadians interpret recent disciplinary incidents as evidence of "widespread, fundamental problems" in the whole structure of Canada's armed forces.

This National Angus Reid Poll was conducted by telephone between September 20th and 29th among a representative cross-section of 1516 Canadian adults . The actual number of completed interviews in each region was as follows: B.C. -- 200; Alberta -- 150; Manitoba/Saskatchewan -- 120; Ontario -- 526; Quebec -- 400; Atlantic -- 120. 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 1991 Census data. With a national sample of 1516, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within ±2.5 percentage points 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.

For more information please contact:

Darrell Bricker
Senior Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(613) 241-5802

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900