Change Of Canada's National Motto To "Sea To Sea To Sea" Is Given Strong Endorsement By Those Who Have An Opinion

Toronto, ON -The idea of potentially changing Canada's national motto from "From Sea to Sea" to what the Premiers of Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories propose be "From Sea to Sea to Sea" -so as to include the Arctic Ocean- is strongly endorsed among those Canadians who have an opinion about this issue, according to a new Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service/Global News.

The survey of 1002 Canadians reports that 44% of Canadians believe "this new motto sounds good" and approve of this change -two and half times the proportion (17%) who "think this new motto does not sound good and disapprove of this change". Meanwhile, 37% say they "don't care either way".

• Endorsement of the potential change is highest among residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (58%), Atlantic Canada (55%), and British Columbia and Alberta (both at 51%).
• Indifference to the potential change runs highest among residents of Quebec (51%), and among younger adults age 18-34 (43% don't care either way vs. 34% among those ages 35 and older).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News and fielded from March 7th to March 9th, 2006. For this survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1002 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the aggregate results are considered accurate to within 1773.1 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 each sub-grouping of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

-30-

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900