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| ID card poll is skewed, Liberal says - Thursday, July 17, 2003 at 13:23 |
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PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A controversial Canadian government poll that shows widespread support for a national ID card with biometrics is skewed in favour of the initiative and should be disregarded by Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, say members of a House of Commons committee. Outspoken Liberal MP John Bryden said the opening question of the Immigration Department poll, which asked respondents to choose between security or privacy as a national priority, is "completely loaded" and set up the result for the survey. "I would have a real reservation about taking the result of that poll seriously if it begins with a question like that. The thing is, the minister didn't present it as a security issue. Obviously, if you present it as a security issue, people will opt for security over privacy," Mr. Bryden, a former newspaper editor, warned yesterday. "I know polls can be manipulated in a certain way to guarantee certain results and this is why they have to be used with great caution by politicians." But Mr. Coderre, in an interview yesterday, defended the poll, saying it had been well done and reveals support for ID cards. "The poll was well done, all over (Canada). I believe that people understand that since Sept. 11, the world has changed and the planet is shrinking," said Mr. Coderre. The questions for the poll, which was conducted last December by Pollara, were written by the department and not the polling firm. Michael Marzolini, chairman of Pollara and the Liberal party's pollster, declined comment on the poll, except to direct a reporter to a speech titled Bad Media Polls he had given in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In the speech, he was highly critical of some media polls on security and privacy issues performed in the shadow of the catastrophe. The Immigration Department poll showed that Canadians' strong support for a national ID card actually increases if it is made mandatory and includes biometrics such as fingerprints and iris scans. The survey revealed that 70 per cent of Canadians favour an ID card with finger-printing or eye-scanning, and the widespread support exists from coast to coast, no matter the province. The poll shows that support among Quebecers jumps to 74 per cent from 67 when it is made mandatory, as opposed to voluntary. In British Columbia, where opposition is greatest, support is bumped up to 56 per cent from 51 on the same question. The poll was conducted Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, 2002, through 1,677 telephone interviews with adult Canadians. The margin of error is 2.4 percentage points, 19 times in 20. Jerry Pickard, the Liberal vice-chairman of the committee, also doubted the usefulness of the poll, saying Canadians may not be familiar with the issues involved with a national ID card and it is the responsibility of the media and politicians to inform the public in the next months. Canadian Alliance MP Diane Ablonczy said the poll has obviously been performed as part of the department's "campaign" to bring in the cards. "They are playing on Canadians' security fears with this poll as part of an effort to ramrod the ID cards through the system," she said. Mr. Coderre said the only decision that has been made by the government is to hold a debate and make a decision on national ID cards this fall. He said Canadians cannot put "their heads in the sand" on the issue since they will be left behind by other industrialized countries. |