The Verdict is In: No Back in Black - Canadians (68%) Say Stay in U.S.

Toronto, ON - On the heels of Conrad Black's sentence to 6 189 years in an American prison after being found guilty of fraud and obstruction of justice charges, a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television finds that Canadians want Black to serve his prison time in the United States, where he was convicted, and not be allowed to serve his time in Canada. In fact, seven in ten (68%) Canadians would be opposed (53% strongly/15% somewhat) to `the Canadian government allowing him to serve his time here in this country'. Just three in ten (29%) would support (13% strongly/16% somewhat) this decision.

But Canadians are split on whether or not the sentence imposed by Judge Amy St. Eve was `about right' (44%) or `too lenient' (38%). The sentence, which also included a fine of $160,000 and payment of restitution of $6.1 million, was on the low end of the scale of what Black could have received. Only one in ten (9%) believes that the sentence was `too harsh' (9%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television from Dec 11 to Dec 13, 2007. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was 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 population of Canada 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 regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data.

Canadians Want Black to Serve Time in the United States...

A majority (53%) of Canadians `strongly oppose' the idea of `the Canadian government allowing Black to serve his time here in the country', should that request arise, while 15% are `somewhat opposed' to this notion. Conversely, just one in eight (13%) would `strongly support' the government allowing this to happen, while 16% would `somewhat support' this idea.

• Residents of British Columbia (73%) are the most likely to `oppose' the government allowing Black to serve his time in Canada if the situation were to arise, followed by those living in Quebec (71%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (71%), Alberta (69%), Ontario (63%) and Atlantic Canada (62%).
• Residents of Ontario (33%) are the most supportive of this idea, followed by those living in Atlantic Canada (31%), Alberta (28%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (27%), Quebec (25%), and British Columbia (22%).
• Older Canadians are most likely to oppose this notion (71%), while middle-aged (70%) and younger Canadians (60%) are a little less likely to oppose it.
• Men (70%) are slightly more opposed to the government allowing Black to serve his time in Canada than are women (66%).

Canadians Split on Sentence...

Canadians are split as to whether the sentence imposed by Jude Amy St. Eve was `about right' (44%),`too lenient' (38%) or `too harsh' (9%).

• Residents of Alberta are the most likely (46%) to believe that the sentence was too lenient, followed by Canadians living in Quebec (43%), Atlantic Canada (41%), British Columbia (36%), Ontario (34%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (30%).
• Residents of British Columbia are the most likely (13%) to believe that the sentence was too harsh, followed by those living in Alberta (11%), Ontario (11%), Atlantic Canada (7%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (6%) and Quebec (5%).
• A majority (53%) of those living in Saskatchewan and Manitoba thought that the sentence was just about right, followed by Ontarians (48%), Quebecers (42%), Atlantic Canadians (42%), British Columbians (39%) and Albertans (36%).
• Older Canadians are most likely (44%) to believe that the sentence was too lenient, followed by middle-aged (39%) and younger Canadians (30%). A majority (52%) of younger Canadians thought that the sentence was just about right.
• Four in ten (41%) men thought that the sentence was too lenient, but 35% of women felt this way.

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.

To learn more, please visit www.ipsos.ca.

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