(74%) Montreal Island Residents Believe the City Deserves

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Three in Four (74%) Montreal Island Residents Believe the City Deserves Special Status Within Quebec Because It’s a World Class, Cosmopolitan City Despite This, Majority Believe Montreal is on the Decline, With Nine in Ten Thinking the City Needs to Take Drastic Step to Improve

Public Release Date: Wednesday, September 18th, 2013, 9:00 AM EST

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Washington  New York  Los Angeles  Austin  Chicago  St. Louis  Cincinnati Minneapolis  Seattle  San Francisco  Vancouver  Calgary  Winnipeg  Toronto Guelph  Ottawa  Montreal  St. John

Toronto, ON – A new study of Quebec residents conducted by Ipsos Marketing on behalf of The CRITIQ Organization reveals that three in four (74%) Montreal Island residents, believe that the city deserves special status within Quebec because it’s a world class, metropolitan city, despite two in three (63%) Greater Montreal Area residents and two in five (38%) Quebecois residents outside this area agreeing with this claim.

The data also reveals that while most residents have high praise for Quebec’s biggest city, a majority in each region (55% Island residents/53% Greater Montreal residents/53% rest of Quebec) believe the city is on the decline and bold and drastic steps should improve Montreal to keep it moving forward.

While Quebecers are aligned on the notion that bold and drastic steps need to be taken, residents of different regions differ substantially on a number of issues ranging from whether or not Montreal should have more autonomy and investment from the provincial government to whether or not the city should have different language laws due to its diversity. The table below outlines statements outlining how Montreal differs from the rest of the province of Quebec and what proportion of each area resident ‘agrees’ with the sentiment:

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Washington  New York  Los Angeles  Austin  Chicago  St. Louis  Cincinnati Minneapolis  Seattle  San Francisco  Vancouver  Calgary  Winnipeg  Toronto  Guelph  Ottawa  Montreal  St. John

Montreal Island Greater Montreal Rest of Quebec Residents Area Residents Residents

Montreal needs to be bold if it wants to 92% 89% 88% move forward and prosper

Montreal needs to take some drastic 91% 91% 88% steps to improve the way it does things

Montreal is different (socially, culturally, and economically from the rest of the 90% 87% 82% province of Quebec

Montreal is a unique city 88% 86% 69%

Montreal has yet to reach its full 88% 84% 69% potential as a city

Montreal has lost its prestige over the 76% 76% 79% last few decades

Montreal should have more autonomy to 81% 69% 46% make its own decisions for its future

More Montreal taxpayer money goes out of Montreal to the rest of the province 78% 54% 37% than stays in Montreal

Montreal is not getting its fair share of resources and investments from the 75% 64% 34% Quebec government

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Montreal is a city in decline 55% 53% 53%

Given Montreal’s diversity, it should have different language laws than the 59% 43% 32% rest of the province

Montreal is the best city in Canada 61% 46% 21%

The French language is not threatened in 58% 42% 21% Montreal

Montreal is not a world-class city 33% 35% 31%

Rating Montreal…

Overall, at least two in three believe that Montreal is a world class city, but residents of different regions have differing opinions when looking at the quality of life that Montreal provides as one of its biggest strengths. Interestingly, residents outside of Montreal are more likely to rate the city’s current job market and ability to attract new business from outside the province as ‘good’ than those from the Island or the GMA. The following table outlines different qualities of Montreal as well as the proportion of region residents who rate these current situations as ‘good’:

Situations Montreal Island Greater Montreal Rest of Quebec Residents Area Residents Residents

Quality of life 85% 75% 51%

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The services that are provided to its 67% 73% 66% residents

The current job market/career opportunities 49% 72% 75% compared to the rest of Canada

Ability to attract new businesses from 41% 50% 59% outside of Quebec

The state of its infrastructure 18% 21% 20%

Recommendations and Outlook…

Only a minority of respondents from all surveyed regions (38% Island of Montreal/40% Greater Montreal Area/35% Rest of Quebec) are ‘optimistic’ about the short term future of Montreal over the next year, while a majority (62% Island of Montreal/60% Greater Montreal Area/66% Rest of Quebec) are ‘pessimistic’ about the city’s future over the next 12 months.

While most have a pessimistic outlook for Montreal looking into next year, this has not deterred most residents from recommending the city to others for cultural and entrepreneurial endeavours. The table below outlines how ‘likely’ residents are to recommend Montreal for cultural activities and starting a business:

Recommendations Montreal Island Greater Montreal Rest of Quebec Residents Area Residents Residents

For cultural activities 89% 87% 79%

To start a business 54% 57% 54%

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Ideas for the Future and Attracting New Business…

As perceptions of Montreal as a world class city wane, several ideas and strategy focuses have been discussed to make the city more attractive and bring it back its luster. Respondents gave higher ratings to ideas centered around making the city an attractive setting for both students and business leaders, as well as providing a more efficient and effective governance model. The table below outlines the ideas presented that could be used to help Montreal become more competitive and attract new business, as well as the proportion of region residents who indicate that these are ‘good’ ideas:

Potential Ideas Montreal Island Greater Montreal Rest of Quebec Residents Area Residents Residents

Having world class universities 98% 96% 90%

Having the best performing education 96% 93% 86% system in Canada

Recognizing entrepreneurs who are 95% 97% 90% creating jobs in the city

Streamlining and improving Montreal’s 94% 97% 89% city governance

Having the best support for 94% 93% 82% entrepreneurs in Canada

Having the best performing health and 93% 91% 81% welfare system in Canada

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Promoting Montreal’s multicultural 89% 84% 80% aspects

Making a clear and long-form 79% 75% 66% commitment to the Canadian federation

Guaranteeing full bilingual status 75% 68% 60%

Lowering business taxes to ensure that 70% 64% 53% they are the lowest in Canada by 1%

Eliminating restrictive language 68% 56% 43% measures

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These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between July 22nd to 31st, 2013 on behalf of the CRITIQ Foundation. For this survey, a sample of 1,250 Quebecers (including 752 respondents from the Island of Montreal, 251 from the Greater Montreal Area, and 251 from the rest of Quebec) from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/- 4.1 percentage points had all residents of the Island of Montreal been polled and within +/-7.1 percentage points had all residents of the Greater Montreal Area and remaining areas of Quebec been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Luc Durand President, Quebec Ipsos Reid (514) 904-4344

For full tabular results, please visit our website at www.ipsos-na.com. News Releases are available at: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/

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