In Lead Up To The National Healthcare Summit

Toronto, ON - As the Premiers and the Prime Minister get set to sit down together at the televised healthcare summit meeting this coming Monday and try to reach a consensus on the future of and funding of Canadian healthcare, a new Ipsos-Reid/CTV/The Globe and Mail national survey shows that Canadians are not optimistic about the summit outcome: Six in ten Canadians (59%) say that they think it is not likely that the Premiers and the Prime Minister will reach an agreement that improves the healthcare services they receive.

And when it comes to which level of government they most trust to provide the best healthcare to them, many more Canadians say they most trust their Provincial Premier (51%) than say they most trust the Prime Minister (32%). As for the format of the healthcare summit, only 18% of Canadians think that the fact that the meeting is televised will make it "less productive". In fact, four in ten (39%) think it will actually make it "more productive", and 42% think it will have "no impact".

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/ CTV/The Globe And Mail/CFRB poll conducted from September 3rd to September 5th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 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 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.

Six In Ten Canadians (59%) Say It's Not Likely That P.M. And Premiers Will Reach Healthcare Funding Agreement...

Even though the Prime Minister and the Premiers will be getting together on September 13th for three days to start negotiating a new agreement for funding Canada's healthcare system, six in ten Canadians (59%) feel it is not likely that that they will reach an agreement that improves the healthcare services that their family receives (40% "not very likely", 20% "not likely at all"). However, four in ten Canadians (38%) are more optimistic about these meetings and believe that it is likely an agreement will be reached (32% "somewhat likely", 6% "very likely"). The remaining 2% of respondents "don't know" how likely it is that they will reach an agreement.

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• Inclination to feel that it is not likely that the Prime Minister and Premiers will reach an agreement is highest in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (71%), followed by Alberta (62%), Quebec (61%), British Columbia (60%), and Ontario (57%). 183
• Inclination to feel that it is likely that the Prime Minister and Premiers will reach an agreement is highest in Atlantic Canada (47%), followed by Ontario (41%), British Columbia (37%), Quebec (36%), Alberta (34%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (29%).

Premiers (51%) More Trusted Than P.M. (32%) To Provide Best Healthcare...

Substantially more Canadians say they trust their Provincial Premier (51%) than say they trust the Prime Minister (32%) to provide the best healthcare for people like them. Just over one in ten Canadians (13%) say they most trust "neither" their Premier nor the Prime Minister, 1% say they trust "both", while 3% say they "don't know" which of them they most trust.

• Those most likely to say they most trust their Provincial Premier tend to be residents of Quebec (65%), followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (62%), Alberta (55%), Atlantic Canada (53%), Ontario (43%), and British Columbia (39%). 183
• Those most likely to say the most trust the Prime Minister tend to be residents of Ontario (39%) and British Columbia (39%), followed by Atlantic Canada (34%), Alberta (31%), Quebec (22%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (18%). 183
• Those aged 55 years and older are significantly more likely than those aged 18-54 years to most trust the Prime Minister (38% vs. 29%).

Only 18% Of Canadians Think Televising Summit Will Make Meeting Less Productive - 39% Say More Productive, 42% Say No Impact...

As for the format of the healthcare summit, only 18% of Canadians think that the fact that the meeting is televised will make it "less productive". In fact, four in ten (39%) think it will actually make it "more productive", and 42% think it will have "no impact". The remaining 1% of Canadians "don't know" what impact televising the meeting will have in this respect.

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• Inclination to believe that televising the meeting will make it "less productive" is highest in British Columbia (23%), followed closely by Saskatchewan/Manitoba (22%), Ontario (20%), Alberta (16%), Quebec (14%), and Atlantic Canada (10%). 183
• Inclination to believe that televising the meeting will make it "more productive" is highest in Atlantic Canada (51%), followed by Saskatchewan/Manitoba (46%), Alberta (39%), Ontario (38%), Quebec (37%), and British Columbia (35%). 183
• Inclination to believe that televising the meeting will "have no impact" is highest in Quebec (48%), followed by Alberta (45%), British Columbia (40%), Ontario (39%), Atlantic Canada (39%), and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (32%). 183
• Those aged 18-54 are significantly more likely than those over the age of 54 to believe that televising the meeting will have not impact (46% vs. 33%).

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:

Darrell Bricker
Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900