Nine in Ten (87%) Canadians Agree That The Time for Studies is Over and That It Is Time For Action To Renew Our Healthcare System

Ottawa, ONTARIO - According to a new poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association, an overwhelming majority (87%) of Canadians agree that `the time for more studies of the health care system has passed and that all levels of government need to take immediate action to renew our health care system.' In fact, six in ten (58%) strongly agree with this view, and a further 29% somewhat agree. One in ten (11%) disagree with this viewpoint.

• Women (90%) are more likely to express agreement than are men (84%).
• Canadians with some university or other post-secondary education (90%), a university degree (87%), or a high school diploma (86%) are more likely that those without a high school diploma (78%) to indicate agreement with this view.
• Regionally, agreement is lead by residents of British Columbia (92%), Ontario (90%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (88%), Alberta (87%) followed by those Atlantic Canada (82%) and Quebec (80%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Medical Association between September 10th and September 12th, 2002. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. 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 statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

To view the release and data tables, please open the attached PDF files.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Mike Colledge
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(613) 241-5802