Provincial Premiers And Their Challenges Ahead: Canadians Rate Which Issues Their Premiers Will Face In A Decade - A Greater Challenge, The Same, Or Less

Toronto, ON - As The Empire Club of Canada gets set to initiate it's new speaker series titled The Premiers And The Challenges Ahead, a new Ipsos-Reid survey conducted on behalf of this organization reveals that out of fourteen key issues that may be a greater challenge to their own Premier a decade from now (whoever that may be), Canadians are acutely focused on elder services and family healthcare delivery issues that will likely prove to be greater challenges for their Provincial Premier ten years from now compared to today.

Specifically, seven in ten Canadians (72%) point to "services for the elderly and their specific home and healthcare needs" as an issue that will be a greater challenge for their Premier in ten years, and majorities regard the challenges of "ensuring Medicare and healthcare for individuals and families" (66%), "having adequate disposal facilities for garbage and waste" (64%), and "ensuring reliable and affordable sources of energy" (59%) the same way.

The Empire Club of Canada Premiers' Speaker Series 2004 - 2005 forum will present the views of Canada's leading provincial political figures on the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing the nation today and the years ahead. This first-of-its kind luncheon series is presented by Bell Canada. The Premiers and their speaking dates will be confirmed during the course of the 2004-2005 season. Premiers speaking through mid-January at The Empire Club include: The Honourable Bernard Lord, The Honourable Gary Doer, The Honourable Patrick Binns, The Honourable John Hamm, The Honourable Joseph Handley, and The Honourable Dennis Fentie.

The Empire Club of Canada (www.empireclub.org) is the nation's speakers' forum of record. Since 1903, it has hosted more than 2500 prominent Canadian and international leaders on a wide range of topics relating to political affairs, business, sciences, the arts and religion.

For Information concerning The Empire Club of Canada Premiers Speakers Series please Contact: Stephen Hewitt, 416-848-1401 The Premier Speaker Series will usually be held at the Fairmount Royal York Hotel in Toronto, (100 Front Street West) from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/The Empire Club of Canada survey conducted from September 10th to September 13th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1773.1 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 weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data. To view the full press release including regional and national comparisons and the detailed tables please open the attached PDF.

-30-

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900