Edmonton Residents Potentially Handiest in the Country, Topping the List of Canadian Cities Claiming the Home Renovation Tax Credit
for 2009 Tax Year

Toronto, ON - Edmonton residents are potentially the handiest urban Canadians across the country, according to a new multi-city study conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Inuit Canada. The online study, based on the findings of at least 250 interviews in each of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Greater Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax - over 3400 interviews in total - gauged Canadians intentions to claim various types of tax credits in their 2009 tax filing.

While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget has put a stop to the popular home-renovation tax credit, many urban Canadians have taken advantage of the opportunity to make some renovations to their homes and save some cash in the process. In fact, one in three (32%) residents of Edmonton say that they have or will claim the home-renovation tax credit for the 2009 tax year, the highest proportion across the country, perhaps suggesting that Edmontonians are the handiest urban Canadians across the country, or that they now have the spiffiest houses in Canada.

Three in ten living in Ottawa (30%), Winnipeg (29%), Saskatoon (29%), and Halifax (29%) also intend to claim the tax credit, while fewer living in the GTA (27%), Calgary (24%), Vancouver (21%), Quebec City (16%) or Montreal (14%) intend to claim the credit.

The data also revealed that residents of Edmonton had the highest reported intention of claiming the tax credits available for children's physical fitness at 12%, while residents of Calgary weren't far behind (10%). Fewer of those living in other Canadian cities will do the same: Saskatoon (7%), Vancouver (6%), Ottawa (6%), Halifax (6%), Quebec City (5%), GTA (5%), Winnipeg (5%) and Montreal (3%).

Another popular tax credit, especially among students and their parents, is the tuition tax credits for post-secondary education. The data reveals that residents of the GTA (16%) and Saskatoon (15%) could have the most scholars across the country, representing the highest proportion of citizens who intend to claim the credit. But a strong proportion of urban Canadians in each city studied intend to claim this tax break: Calgary (13%), Quebec City (13%), Vancouver (12%), Edmonton (12%), Montreal (12%), Halifax (11%), Ottawa (11%) and Winnipeg (9%).

Finally, residents of Vancouver (4%), Saskatoon (4%) and Quebec City (4%) were more likely than those living in other cities across Canada to say they will claim the first-time homebuyer's tax credit: Calgary (2%), Ottawa (2%), Edmonton (1%), Winnipeg (1%), GTA (1%), Montreal (1%), Halifax (1%) residents were least likely to say so.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between March 12 and 17, 2010, on behalf of Intuit. For this survey, a sample of at 3423 adults from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online (Vancouver n=301, Calgary n=370, Edmonton n=337, Saskatoon n=274, Winnipeg n=286, GTA n=458, Ottawa n=333, Montreal n=413, Quebec City n=364, Halifax n=287). Weighting was then employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of between+/- 4.6 percentage points to +/- 5.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in each of these cities been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Research Manager
Ipsos Public Affairs
(416) 572-4474
[email protected]

About Ipsos Reid

Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader, the country's leading provider of public opinion research, and research partner for loyalty and forecasting and modelling insights. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos Reid employs more than 600 research professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in the country, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and online panels. Ipsos Reid's marketing research and public affairs practices offer the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, Ipsos Reid offers syndicated information or custom solutions across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, retail, and technology & telecommunications. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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