Some of Life's Irks

Toronto, ONTARIO - According to a survey released today by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Maple Leaf Foods, when presented with a list of various irks and irritations that one runs across in day to day life, two-in-five (42%) Canadians rank traffic as the irritation that most "rubs them the wrong way", followed by "someone reading over their shoulder" (18%), "people cracking their knuckles" (16%), getting "sand in their bathing suits" (11%) and seeing "socks worn with sandals" (10%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between November 20th and 22nd, 2001 on behalf of Maple Leaf Foods. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. 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 statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

• Regionally, Albertans appear to be the most bothered by traffic (53%). This compares to those in Ontario (45%), and Quebec (41%). Residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (39%), British Columbia (38%) follow, while those in Atlantic Canada (28%) are least likely to identify traffic as the item that "rubs them the wrong way" the most
• Men (48%) are more likely than women (37%) to cite traffic.
• Residents of Atlantic Canada (29%) are more likely than those in any other regions to indicate that people "reading over their shoulders" rubs them the wrong way. This compares to those in Alberta (12%) who are least likely to cite this irritant.
• While those in Atlantic Canada (31%), women (23% versus 10% of men) and those 55 years of age or older (24%) are more likely to mention "people cracking their knuckles".
• Residents of British Columbia (15%) are more likely than Canadians in other regions to rank "sand in their bathing suit" as thing that most rubs them the wrong way.
• "Socks with sandals" is more likely ranked by those in Quebec (14%) as the thing that most rubs them the wrong way. This compares to those in Alberta (4%) and Atlantic Canada (2%) who are least likely to cite this.

To view the complete release and tables, please download the attached PDF files.

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