Only Half Of Torontonians (47%) Offer Support For Police Chief Julian Fantino Contract Renewal

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos-Reid survey of Toronto's residents, half of Torontonians (47%) believe that Police Chief Julian Fantino "should have his contract renewed for another five years", compared with 32% who believe that "it's time for a change" and 21% who "don't know". These results come in the wake of a vote-deadlocked Toronto Police Series Board decision that triggered the non-renewal of Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino's contract.

The survey also shows that Julian Fantino's job approval rating has dropped by 13 points from 78% in January of 2002 to 65% in this latest sounding.

When asked to consider how various city leaders have handled the Fantino contract issue, Torontonians appear unimpressed - as minorities believe that Mayor David Miller (44%), the Toronto Police Services Board (33%), and Toronto City Council (30%) have done a `good job' in handling the situation.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CFTO/CFRB/The Globe and Mail poll conducted from July 27th to August 12th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 448 adult residents Toronto was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1774.6 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 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 Toronto population according to the 2001 Census data.

Tepid Support Among Torontonians (47%) For Renewal Of Chief Fantino's Contract...

Based on what they have seen, read, and heard, half (47%) of Torontonians believe that it was wrong that the Toronto Police Services Board decided not to renew Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino's contract and feel "Chief Fantino should have his contract renewed for another five-years". Three in ten residents of Toronto (32%) are of the opinion that that this decision was the "right thing and it's time for a change so a new Toronto Police Chief can be hired". The remaining 21% of the residents of Toronto "don't know" how they feel about this issue.

183
• Those Torontonians with less than a University degree education are significantly more likely than those with a University degree education or more to believe it was wrong not to renew Chief Fantino's contract and that it should be renewed for another five years (60% vs. 33%). 183
• Younger Torontonians aged 18-34 are less likely than Torontonians 35 years of age and older to believe that it was wrong to not renew Chief Fantino's contract and that it should be renewed for another five years (32% vs. 52%).

Chief Fantino's Approval Rating Sinks From 2002...

When thinking about Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, 65% of the residents of Toronto approve of the job he's been doing as Toronto's Police Chief (40% "strongly approve", 26% "somewhat approve") - this represents an approval rating drop of 13 points from January of 2002 (78%). Meanwhile, 15% of Toronto residents disapprove of the job Chief Fantino has been doing (9% "somewhat disapprove", 5% "strongly disapprove"), and 20% "don't know" if they approve or disapprove of the job Chief Fantino has been doing.

• Those Torontonians with less than a University degree education are significantly more likely than those with a University degree education or more to approve of the job Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino has been doing (71% vs. 56%). 183
• As age rises among Torontonians, propensity to approve of the way Chief Fantino has been doing his job rises (57% among those aged 18-34, 65% among those aged 35-54, and 73% among those aged 55 and over).

Torontonians Not Impressed With How City Leaders Have Handled The Affair...

Considering the controversy that has arisen around Chief Fantino's contract, less than half of the residents in Toronto (44%) believe that Mayor David Miller has done a good job in handling the situation (15% "very good job", 29% "somewhat good job"), while one-third (34%) believe he did a bad job (13% "somewhat bad job", 21% "very bad job"). The remaining 22% of the residents in Toronto "don't know" how they feel about the way Mayor Miller handled this situation.

183
• Younger Torontonians aged 18-34 are more likely than those aged 35 and older to believe that Mayor David Miller has done a good job in handling the situation (54% vs. 40%).

One-third of the residents of Toronto (33%) believe that the Toronto Police Services Board has done a good job in handling this situation (26% "somewhat good job", 7% "very good job"), compared to 42% who believe they have done a bad job (16% "somewhat bad job", 27% "very bad job"). One-quarter of the residents of Toronto (25%) "don't know" how they feel about the way the Toronto Police Services Board handled this situation.

183
• Younger Torontonians aged 18-34 are more likely than those aged 35 and older to believe that Toronto Police Services Board has done a good job in handling the situation (42% vs. 28%).

Three in ten residents of Toronto (30%) believe that Toronto City Council has done a good job in handling this situation (25% "somewhat good job", 5% "very good job"), contrasted against 39% who believe they have done a bad job (20% "somewhat bad job", 20% "very bad job"). Another three in ten residents of Toronto (30%) "don't know" how they feel about the way the Toronto City Council have handled this situation.

183
• Younger Torontonians aged 18-34 are more likely than those aged 35 and older to believe that Toronto City Council has done a good job in handling the situation (41% vs. 25%).

Overwhelming Support For Police Chief Contract Review And Renewal On Case By Case Basis Rather Than Implementing Practice Of Automatic Change Every Five Years...

A strong majority of eight in ten Torontonians (80%) think that the "Toronto Police Chief should have their contract come up for review and then renewed on a case by case basis every five years", as opposed to a small portion of Torontonians (9%) who think that "Toronto should make a normal practice of changing its Police Chief every five years regardless of how well that chief has done". One in ten Torontonians (11%) "don't know" which of these two processes they would prefer.

183
• Torontonian women are more likely than men to believe that the Toronto Police Chief should have their contract come up for review and then renewed on a case by case basis every five years (84% vs. 76%).
  Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

  -30-
  
  For more information on this news release, please contact:
  
  John Wright
  Senior Vice-President
  Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
  (416) 324-2900