How Canadians Show Someone They Care

Toronto, ON - According to a new survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Canada Post, given a list of four methods of communication, four in ten (41%) Canadians think a "phone call" is the most effective method in showing someone you care. A "handwritten letter followed up by a phone call" comes in a near second with 35% of Canadians choosing this as the most effective method. Two in ten (18%) Canadians choose a "handwritten letter" while just 6% say "email."

Asked what person in their life they would most want to write to and then talk to on the telephone, three in ten (29%) Canadians say their husband or wife/boyfriend or girlfriend, 26% say Mom and/or Dad, 20% say their child and/or grandchild, and 16% say their brother and/or sister. Less common responses include a friend (13%) or a grandparent (2%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Canada Post poll conducted from August 17th to August 19th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1002 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the 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 regions and for other sub-groupings 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 the 2001 Census data.

Given a list of four methods of communication, 41% of Canadians think a "phone call" is the most effective method in showing someone you care, 35% say a "handwritten letter followed up by a phone call," 18% say a "handwritten letter," and 6% say "email." The remaining 1% of Canadians "don't know" which is the most effective method in showing someone you care.

• Canadians 55 years of age or older are more likely than those 18-54 years of age to say a "phone call" is the most effective method in showing someone you care (47% vs. 38%).

• Women are more likely than men to say a "handwritten letter followed up by a phone call" is the most effective method in showing someone you care (38% vs. 31%).

• Canadians with at least some postsecondary education are more likely than those without to say a "handwritten letter followed up by a phone call" is the most effective method in showing someone you care (40% vs. 25%).

Asked what person in their life they would most want to write to and then talk to on the telephone, 29% of Canadians say their husband or wife/boyfriend or girlfriend, 26% say Mom and/or Dad, 20% say their child and/or grandchild, 16% say their brother and/or sister, 13% say a friend, and 2% say a grandparent. Another 8% of Canadians choose another person, 1% say "none," and 4% "don't know."

• Canadians 18-54 years of age are more likely than those 55 or older to most want to write to and then talk to on the telephone with their husband or wife/boyfriend or girlfriend (33% vs. 20%) or their Mom and/or Dad (32% vs. 12%). Canadians 55 years of age or older are more likely than those 18-54 to say their child and/or grandchild (38% vs. 13%) or their brother and/or sister (22% vs. 13%).

• Men are more likely than women to most want to write to and then talk to on the telephone with their spouse or partner (35% vs. 23%), while women are more likely than men to most want to write to and then talk to on the telephone with their child and/or grandchild (25% vs. 16%).

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:

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