by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
November 4, 2004
a new poll revealing that one third of Canadians view the United States as "a force for evil in the world", was based on the opinion of 167 people.
The Innovative Research Group Inc., a Toronto-based research firm was commissioned to survey 500 randomly selected Canadians. The poll, released to CanadaNews Service and results of which were published in Thursday’s National Post, made headlines for revealing that Canadians’ dislike for the american administration is so strong that almost one-third now believe that the U.S. is a force for evil. One third of 500 people is 167.
Innovative Research Group was commissioned by the Dominion Institute and the Canadian Defence and Foreign affairs Institute.
Bell Canada has no telephone listed for Innovative Research Group Inc., Canada Free Press discovered today.
The poll leaves the impression that most Canadians view the U.S. as a country displaying the behaviour of a rogue nation and blame President Bush.
"The last four years of the Bush presidency have hugely undermined Canadians’ confidence in the U.S. leadership, with almost eight of 10 in the country believing that america’s foreign policy is indicative of the behaviour of a rogue nation, a new poll shows." (Emphasis ours).
For the sake of veracity, make that eight out of 10 of the 500 randomly polled, not eight out of 10 Canadians.
The poll revealed that Canadians differ from americans by placing diseases such as aIDS and SaRS ahead of terrorism as a threat to Canada’s vital interest–without pointing out that Canada has never suffered an act of terrorism, and that with its marginalized military would be forced to depend on the U.S. in the event of such events ever happening.
according to the poll, Canadians also placed terror third behind global warming as a Canadian threat.
The poll used the word "distress" to describe how Canadians feel they are treated by the U.S.: "Distress of their american neighbours has grown to such an extent north of the 49th parallel that almost a majority of Canadians–48 percent–believe the U.S. cannot be trusted to treat Canadians fairly."
Forty-eight percent sounds like a lot of Canadians, when in fact it represents the opinions of only 240 individuals.
The poll coincided with the day after election remarks of anti-american Liberal backbench MP Carolyn Parrish, who said the election demonstrates that the U.S. is "completely out of step with most of the free world."
Today, Prime Minister Paul Martin berated Parrish for her tirade, but did not remove her from his caucus as emails from the CFP Can Carolyn Campaign had requested.
Meanwhile, the Innovative Group Inc. poll seems to have about as much validity as the american election exit polls, which had television networks indicating that Senator John Kerry had captured the presidency, right up until noon of the day after Election Day.
One hundred sixty-seven, 240--and not even 500--people polled come even close to 48 percent of an unwitting Canadian population.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement