Not A Great First Impression:
Only One In Three (34%) Canadians Claim To Know Anything About Dion's `Green Shift' Plan

Toronto, ON - It would appear that as Stephane Dion focuses on selling his `Green Shift' environment plan to Canadians he has a lot of work to do as a full majority don't recall hearing anything about his plan and of those who do, a majority don't like their first impression--perhaps seeded, in part, by Conservative Party negative ads and commentary that preceded its unveiling by the Liberal Leader.

A new poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television finds that not only do just one in three (34%) Canadians know anything about the plan, but for those who recall any specific element of the plan, a majority (60%) think the element they've heard about is a "bad idea".

One third of Canadians know either `a lot' (6%) or `a little' (28%) about the plan compared with two thirds (66%) knowing either `not very much' (31%) or `nothing at all' (35%) about Mr. Dion's `Green Shift' plan.

When asked to name, on an open ended respondent basis, about what, if any, elements of the plan they have heard the most about in news reports and commentary, six in ten (59%) Canadians could not name a single element. Two in ten (17%), however, did mention the carbon tax as the element they've heard the most about, and others mentioned increases to taxes (7%), the fact that it will be revenue-neutral (3%), or decreased taxes (3%).

For those who could recall a specific element of the plan, six in ten (60%) think that that element is a "bad idea" while four in ten (40%) thought that the element that they could recall is a "good idea".

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television from 07/2 to 07/4, 2008. This online survey of 1,028 adult Canadians was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(416) 324-2002
[email protected]

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