Ministry of Finance Investigation

Toronto, ON - In the midst of election campaign where the Liberals continue to battle allegations of corruption, the RCMP has decided to launch a criminal investigation into the release of information by the Department of Finance before Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale announced changes to Canada's taxation policy on income trusts. In light of this investigation, a majority (58%) of Canadians say "Minister Goodale should resign his position while the RCMP completes its investigation." In contrast 42% say "it's okay for Ralph Goodale to stay on as Minister of Finance while the RCMP completes its investigation."

Perhaps not surprisingly, opinion on whether he should stay on or resign varies by party support. Two-thirds (66%) of Canadians who supported the Liberals in the last election say it is okay for him to stay on while 34% say he should resign. In contrast, three-quarters (78%) of those who supported the Conservative in the last election say he should resign while only 22% say it's okay for him to stay on. The story is similar with those who supported the NDP (62% say he should resign vs. 38% who say it's okay to stay on) and those who supported the Bloc Quebecois (83% say he should resign vs. 17% who say it's okay to stay on).

• Women (61%) are more likely than men (56%) to say that Ralph Goodale should resign.
• Voters under 55 (60%) are more likely than those aged 55+ (55%) to say that Ralph Goodale should resign.
Voters in Alberta (70%) are the most likely to say Ralph Goodale should resign followed by voters in Quebec (65%).
• Atlantic Canada (48%) is the only region of the country where less than a majority says Minister Goodale should resign.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid/CanWest Global poll conducted December 30th 2005 to January 2nd, 2006. A total of 8336 Canadian voters were surveyed via the internet, yielding results which are accurate to within +/- 1.1% (19 times out of 20). The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. The data were statistically weighted to ensure that the sample's age, sex, regional and party support composition reflects that of the actual Canadian voter population. The sample was drawn from a pre-recruited panel of over 12,000 voters drawn from Ipsos Reid's internet panel.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Dr.Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

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