Saying Public Consultations Aren't Enough,
Majority (55%) of Canadians Want National Referendum
on Electoral Reform

Toronto, ON - A majority (55%) of Canadians say public and Parliamentary consultations on proposed changes to the election system are not enough to achieve public consent on electoral reform, and that a national referendum is necessary before making changes, according to a new Ipsos poll. Conversely, 45% believe that the consultations are sufficient to achieve public consent to fundamentally change the election system.

One of the commitments that Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals made during last October's federal election was that, if elected, they would make fundamental changes to Canada's election system. These changes could involve everything from replacing the first-past-the-post system, requiring mandatory voting and permitting online voting.

Those polled were asked whether or not they knew that the federal government has started a process of public and Parliamentary consultations on proposed changes to our election system. Only two in ten (19%) knew that the federal government has started to consult with Canadians, while most (81%) either said it hadn't (21%) or that they didn't know either way (60%).

Among those who said they knew the consultations had begun, 16% (or 3% of the overall population) said they were following the process very closely, while 68% (or 13% of the overall population) said they were following a bit here and there. The remaining 16% (or 3% of the overall population said they weren't following the consultations at all, despite knowing about them.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between August 22 and 25, 2016. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

In April, 2016, before the public engagement process began, EKOS posed a question to Canadians which found the country evenly split on whether "any change to the electoral system is so fundamental that it would require a national referendum" (46%), or whether they believed "a rigorous program of public engagement and Parliamentary review should be sufficient (47%). One in ten (7%) had no response. Ipsos' replication of this question produced similarly divisive results: 49% believe a national referendum is necessary, while 51% believe it is not.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker, Phd
CEO
(416) 324-2001
Ipsos Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning-- Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999. www.ipsos.com