Environment Tops The List Of Priorities For Canadians - First Time Since July 1990

Toronto, ON - For the first time since July of 1990, the environment (26%) tops the list of issues Canadians feel should receive the greatest attention from Canada's leaders. Trailing closely behind the environment as a priority for Canadians are the issues of healthcare/Medicare (24%) and international war/conflict (14%).

And many Canadians appear willing to assume some personal financial responsibility to help protect the environment, as 52% agree with the argument that "Canada needs a special carbon tax to increase the cost of burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal for consumers and industry. This tax would promote energy efficiency and help the environment" (24% strongly agree).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News and fielded from October 31st to November 2nd, 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 +/-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 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.

Full tabular results are available in the attached factum and tables

For more information or to schedule a media interview, please contact:

Dr. Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Ipsos Reid Publc Affairs
(416) 324-2900
[email protected]

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