Well - bloody fricken da... Who's the rocket surgeon that commissioned this poll? It's like commissioning a poll to tell us how the weather was yesterday. I suppose that the conclusion to this poll is the recession is Harper's fault... What a bunch of maroons.
By ELIZABETH THOMPSON, Sun Media
OTTAWA — Canadians feel the country is worse off than it was five years ago but our economy is in much better shape than that of the Americans, according to a new Leger Marketing poll.
Dave Scholz, vice-president of Leger Marketing, said Canadians believe there is more economic disparity than there was five years ago.
“We’re in better shape than the U.S. but we’re not in the best of shape, is what we’re starting to say, and it’s not improving.”
Scholz said the poll shows there are only three areas where Canadians feel they are doing better compared to five years ago: the strength of Canada’s economy compared to the U.S. (40%), Canada’s reputation around the world (8%), and environmental protection (6%).
Many respondents said we are doing worse when it comes to the number of Canadians living below the poverty line (41%) and the gap between rich and poor (37%). The concerns about economic disparity were greatest in Ontario and British Columbia.
Canadians feel we’re also doing worse when it comes to access to quality health services (25%) and the tax burden (20%).
Canadians say our country is faring worse than other G8 countries when it comes to taxes — 48% believed we were below the G8 average while 8% said we were above it — and the gap between rich and poor — 42% felt we were faring worse than the average and 8% said we were faring better.
But we feel we’re better than the rest of the G8 when it comes to welcoming immigrants, social tolerance, our economy, the way we are dealing with the recession and our social safety net.
elizabeth.thompson@sunmedia.ca
