Most Canadians (65%) Accepting Of P.M's Use Of "God Bless Canada"

Toronto, ON- When asked to consider Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent use of the term "God Bless Canada" at the end of all his speeches, the majority of Canadians (65%) indicate they feel this is "acceptable and he should keep doing it". But one in four (26%) feel that this is "unacceptable and he should stop doing it". According to a new Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service/Global News.

Specific regional findings reveal that:

• Those who reside in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (75%) and Alberta (74%) are the most likely to find Mr. Harper's use of "God Bless Canada" acceptable; while
• Residents of Quebec (25%) are the most likely to find this term unacceptable.
• Canadians who live in urban areas are more likely to find the Prime Minster's use of this term unacceptable (28% vs. 20% among those who live in rural areas).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted from April 18th to April 20th, 2006. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the 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 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.

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

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