With Scheduled Start To NHL Season Now Passed, Full Majority Of Canadians (70%) Feel Season Will Be Cancelled Due To Labour Dispute - Up From 50% One Month Ago

Toronto, ON - With the NHL having been originally scheduled to begin regular season's play last evening in seven cities across North America, a new Ipsos-Reid/TSN survey shows that more Canadians now believe that the 2004-2005 NHL season will be cancelled than thought so one month ago.

According to the survey conducted over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, seven in ten Canadians (70%) think the current NHL labour dispute "will last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season" - this is up sharply from the 50% who thought so in a September 13th, 2004, survey.

And, when they are asked to consider whom they feel is being more fair and reasonable in this dispute - the players or the owners - a solid majority of six in ten Canadians (61%, up 1 point from the last sounding) say the "owners", while a much smaller portion (14%, down 6 points) say the "players".

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/ TSN poll conducted from October 8th to October 11th, 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 177 3.1 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.

Seven In Ten Canadians Think The 2004-2005 Season Will Be Cancelled - Up From 50% One Month Ago...

When considering the current collective agreement impasse, seven in ten Canadians (70%) think the "dispute will last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season" - this represents a rise of 20 points from 50% who thought the season would be cancelled in a September 10-13th 2004, survey. Only 18% of Canadians are of the opinion that the dispute will not last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season - a drop of 21 points from this last sounding.

• Inclination to believe that the dispute will last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season is most common in Saskatchewan/Manitoba (74%), followed by Quebec (73%), Alberta (72%), Ontario (70%), British Columbia (66%), and Atlantic Canada (55%).

• Inclination to believe that the dispute will not last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season is most common in Atlantic Canada (31%), followed by British Columbia (22%), Alberta (18%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (16%) and Ontario (16%), and Quebec (14%).

• Those with an annual household income of $60,000 or more are significantly more likely than those with an annual household income of under $60,000 to believe that the dispute will last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season (79% vs. 65%).

• Those living in urban regions of Canada are more likely than those living in rural regions to believe that the dispute will last long enough to cancel the 2004-2005 season (71% vs. 65%).

Majority Of Canadians (61%, Up 1 Point) Continue To Believe The "Owners" Are Being More Fair And Reasonable In This Dispute...

During the survey Canadians were prompted with the information that the National Hockey League and its players association are in a dispute about their collective bargaining agreement. And that this dispute is over cost controls - with the players taking the position that their salaries should continue to be set by the free market and the team owners taking the position they need some new cost controls including a cap on players' salaries.

After being prompted with this information, Canadians were asked a tracking question as to whom in their view is being more fair and reasonable in this dispute - the players or the owners?

A good majority of Canadians (61%) believe that the "owners" are the ones who are being more fair and reasonable (essentially unchanged from the 60% who thought so at the last sounding), while 14% of Canadians believe that the "players" are the ones who are being more fair and reasonable.

Among remaining Canadians, 5% volunteer the opinion that "both" of these groups are being fair and reasonable, and 7% volunteer that "neither" of these groups are being reasonable, while 13% of Canadians "don't know" which group they think is being more fair and reasonable.

• Belief that the "owners" are the ones being more fair and reasonable is strongest in Quebec (69%), followed by Alberta (67%), British Columbia (63%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (63%), Ontario (56%), and Atlantic Canada (46%).

• Those Canadians aged 18-54 are significantly more likely than those aged 55 and over to believe that the "owners" are being more fair and reasonable (66% vs. 52%).

• Belief that the "players" are the ones being more fair and reasonable is strongest in Atlantic Canada (20%), followed by Ontario (17%), British Columbia (14%), Quebec (12%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (10%), and Alberta (9%).

• Canadians living in rural regions are more likely than those living in urban regions to believe that the "players" are the ones who are being more fair and reasonable (19% vs. 13%).

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