Ontarians Give McGuinty's Grits Their Priorities

Toronto, ON - With the re-election of Dalton McGuinty to the Premier's Office for the next four years, Ipsos Reid's Election Day Poll of more than 7,500 voting Ontarians, conducted exclusively on behalf of Global Television and CanWest News Service, reveals the priorities which Ontarians believe should be the focus of McGuinty's government going forward.

Respondents were given the opportunity to choose five priorities from among a list of thirteen, and it appears that healthcare has catapulted back to the top of the list, with eight in ten (77%) voting Ontarians indicating that `reducing healthcare wait times' should be a priority for the government.

Second on the list of priorities that voting Ontarians believe should be adopted by McGuinty's new government is the `strengthening of Ontario's economy and creating jobs' (53%), followed by `improving the education funding formula' (48%) which placed third on the list.

Tied for a fourth-place finish on the list of voting Ontarians' priorities for the McGuinty government include `investing in public transit and infrastructure' (46%) and `reducing taxes' (46%).

Other issues in order of priority include: `uploading social services costs from municipalities' (38%), `fighting climate change' (35%), `developing a poverty-reduction strategy' (35%), `hiring more nurses' (33%), `increasing our energy supply' (28%), `replacing coal power plants' (18%), `hiring more police officers' (18%).

Lowest on the list of priorities for voting Ontarians was `creating a new long weekend in February', which was a priority for only 13% of voting Ontarians.

These are the findings of Ipsos Reid's Election Day Poll conducted exclusively for CanWest News Service and Global Television on October 10, 2007. For the survey, a representatively selected sample of 7553 adults living in Ontario who voted was interviewed online. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 1.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult voting population living in Ontario 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 that the sample's demographic and political composition reflects that of the voting population of Ontario.

The Election Day Poll Also Revealed...

• 59% of voting Ontarians believe that `Ontario is on the right track these days', compared to 41% who believe that `Ontario is headed in the wrong direction'.
• The issue which most helped Ontarians to decided who they were going to vote for was education (23%), followed by trust/integrity/leadership (18%), healthcare (16%), reducing taxes (6%), the economy (5%), protecting the environment (5%), employment/jobs/minimum wage (5%), and social programs (5%).
• Four in ten (38%) voting Ontarians decided on who to vote for before the campaign started, compared with 20% who decided during the start of the campaign, 11% who decided shortly after the debate, 23% who decided in the last week, and 8% who decided while they were in the voter's booth.
• 36% of voting Ontarians believe that John Tory would make the best Premier of Ontario, compared to 27% who believe that McGuinty would make the best Premier, and 19% who believe that Howard Hampton would make the best Premier of Ontario.
• When asked whether or not their vote was mostly cast because of their leader, their party's stance on the issues or their local candidate, 13% of Liberal voters claimed that their vote was cast the way that it was mostly because of their leader, compared to 31% of PC voters who said that they cast their ballot primarily for their leader.
• Seven in ten (70%) Progressive Conservative voters believe that John Tory should stay on as leader and try again, compared to two in ten (19%) who believe that he should call for a convention and let someone else lead the party.
• Two-thirds (66%) of NDP voters believe that Howard Hampton should stay on as leader and try again, compared to 23% who believe that he should call for a convention and let someone else lead the party.

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

About Ipsos Reid
Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader, the country's leading provider of public opinion research, and research partner for loyalty and forecasting and modelling insights. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos Reid employs more than 600 research professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in the country, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and online panels. Ipsos Reid's marketing research and public affairs practices offer the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, Ipsos Reid offers syndicated information or custom solutions across key sectors of the Canadian economy, including consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, retail, and technology & telecommunications. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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