Canadians Support Their Municipal Governments’ Response To COVID-19

Toronto, ON, May 2 2020 — As Canada works to flatten the curve, Ipsos polling for Global News finds that Canadians largely approve of how their municipal governments responded to the Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic in the early days of the lockdown. The survey sought the opinions of 2,400 Canadian adults, from nine urban centers, including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Montreal, Halifax, and the GTA.

As signs emerge that Canada’s curve is heading in the right direction, Canadians stand with their municipal governments in the fight against COVID-19. More than eight in ten Canadians approve (85%, 26% strongly/59% somewhat) of their respective municipal government’s response to COVID-19.

Regionally, those from Montreal, Halifax, and the GTA (both GTA 905 and 416) express higher levels of approval for their respective municipal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic: Halifax (89%), Toronto proper (89%), the 905 (89%), Montreal (88%), Calgary (83%), Regina (82%), Saskatoon (80%), Winnipeg (80%), Edmonton (79%) and Vancouver (78%).

Canadians Participating In Fight Against COVID-19

In the midst of the pandemic, Canadians are participating in the fight against COVID-19, including taking steps to protect their families and communities. At the time of the study, most indicated that they were avoiding restaurants or coffee shops (71%), and public transit (59%), while others were cancelling plans to stay at resorts or hotels (38%), and shopping for groceries more online (21%).

Canadians are also making changes to how they are spending money, and what they buy. Three in four say that they are spending less in general (39%), while more than one in ten (14%) are also changing their approach to investing money. Others are stocking up on non-perishable food and other household essentials (39%).

News Playing An Important Role In Response To COVID-19 Pandemic

Canadians are watching closely as the pandemic continues to unfold – indeed, two in three (64%) say they are consuming more news to stay up to date on the Coronavirus situation. This proportion rises among women, as well as older Canadians. Regionally, those from Saskatoon (73%), Halifax (72%), and Montreal (69%), are significantly more likely to report an increase in news consumption habits.

Most Canadians Trusting Of What They Are Seeing On The News

The majority of Canadians (57%) agree that they can trust what they are seeing on the news about the COVID-19 outbreak. Notably, those who report that they consume news on a more regular basis have greater trust in news coverage. Specifically, 59% of those who consume news on daily basis agree that they can trust what they are seeing on the news, while just 42% of those who consume news a few times a week, and 36% of those who news once a week or less, report that they trust what they are seeing. Older Canadians are also more trusting of the news, which is logical, given that this group generally consumes more news than younger Canadians.  

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between March 24th and April 2nd, 2020, on behalf of on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of n=2,400 Canadians was interviewed online, including n=300 residents aged 18+ in each of the GTA, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and; n=150 residents aged 18+ in each of Saskatoon, and Regina. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects the overall population parameters according to census information. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 2.3 percentage points, of what the results would have been had all adults in each of the markets aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval for n = 300 (city sample) is +/- 6.5 points. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker

CEO, Ipsos Global Public Affairs

+1 416 324 2001

[email protected]

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