Public Opinion on Occupy Canada/Wall Street Movement

Part 6 of the Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Research Series

A survey of 1,005 Conducted from October 19-21, 2011 Conducted for: The Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Conference at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario www.abacusdata.ca About the Research Series Abacus Data and the Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Conference A have partnered to produce a series of public opinion and market research studies BOUT on CCSR in Canada.

CCSR is a growing area of interest not only for corporations but also for community organizations, social enterprises, consumers, and government. THE

There is a significant amount of research data from American and European R

sources. ESEARCH

The intent of this six-part research series is to gather data from Canadians by Canadians over a 12-month period. It will give us a Canadian perspective on corporate and community social responsibility and allow us to track attitudes and behaviour over time.

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In October 2010, a benchmark study was conducted and the results released at the ERIES CCSR Conference held at Algonquin College in Ottawa on November 16, 2010. It examined opinions and behaviour of Canadian consumers towards CCSR.

Topic Expected Release Date Canadian Benchmark Survey October 2010 Ethical consumerism January 2011 Ethical employment and February 2011 compensation Ethical Investing April 2011

Occupy Wall Street/Canada October 2011

Industry Performance October 2011

For more information about this series, please contact David Coletto at [email protected]

CCSR Research Series

Key Findings K EY

• A plurality of Canadians have a favourable impression of the Occupy Canada protests. F INDINGS • 41% have a favourable impression while 22% have a negative impression. One in five say they don’t know enough to have an opinion. • Despite agreeing with most of the protest’s messages, few Canadians think they will have a positive impact on Canadian politics. • Only 18% of Canadians surveyed believed that the protests would have a positive impact on Canadian politics while a majority (59%) believed that they would have no impact. • Most believe the gap between the rich and the poor in Canada is either smaller or about the same as in the United States. • A plurality of Canadians (43%) believed that the gap between the rich and poor in Canada was smaller than in the United States while • Large majorities of Canadians agree with the arguments being made by Occupy Canada protestors. • 81% agree that corporations and the rich have too much influence over public policy and politics in Canada. • 81% agree that the gap between the rich and poor has grown too large in Canada. • 64% agree that Canadian financial institutions have been reckless and greedy. • 51% agree that most Canadian corporations are unethical.

Implications Throughout the year, Abacus Data and the CCSR Conference have asked Canadians their views on a wide-range of topics related to social responsibility. The traditional approach to CSR looks at social responsibility from the perspective of the corporation. It is becoming increasingly clear that the concept does not work – just look at the opinion of most Canadians reported in this survey. What the CCSR Conference started doing three years ago was to look at social responsibility from the perspective of both the corporation and the community and created a forum for both to come together. That’s why the second “C” was added to CSR.

Our research finds that there is a substantive percentage of Canadians who are thinking about social responsibility and our surveys have found that Canadians clearly align with this alternative perspective to corporate and community social responsibility. Whether it is locally or ethically produced goods or services, ethical investing, or good workplace practices, many Canadians are willing to spend a little more or earn a little less if it means they get to interact with what they deem ethical companies. www.abacusdata.ca CCSR Research Series

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In the past few days, a groups of protesters have been gathering in parks across Canada to protest policies which they say favour the MPRESSION rich and large corporations. These protests are taking their cue from similar protests taking place on Wall Street in New York City dubbed Occupy Wall Street..

Do you have favourable or unfavourable opinion of these protests, or do you not know enough about the protests to have an opinion? (n=996, weighted)

25%

22% OF

19% O

20% 18% 18% CCUPY

15%

11% 11%

10% C ANADA

5%

0% P

Very favourable Somewhat Neither favourable Somewhat Very unfavourable Don't know enough ROTESTS favourable nor unfavourable unfavourable to have an opinion

Analysis Canadians are split on their opinion of the protests. About four in ten respondents (41%) said they had a favourable impression of

the protests while 22% said they had an unfavourable impression. Eighteen percent were netural while another 18% did not know enough to have an opinion.

Of note, there was little difference of opinion across age groups or among community type (urban vs. rural). However, political differences did exist. NDP supporters were more likely to have a favourable impression of the protests (56%) than Conservative Party supporters (26%). BQ supporters were the most supportive with 81% saying they had a favourable impression of the protests.

www.abacusdata.ca CCSR Research Series I

In your opinion, will these protests have a positive, negative, or no Do you think the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in MPACT impact on Canadian politics today? Canada is larger, smaller, or about the same as in the United States? (n=996, weighted) (n=996, weighted)

Positive,

Unsure, 16% Larger, 13%

18% Unsure, 7% OF

THE Negative,

7%

P ROTESTS

Smaller, 43% About the

No impact, same, 36%

59% ON

Analysis C

ANADIAN Despite the fact that 41% of Canadians have a favourable impression of the protests and a large majority of Canadians agree with many of the arguments the protests are making, few believe the protests will have a positive impact on Canadian politics. Under one in five respondents (18%) said the protests would have a positive impact while 59% believed that they would have no impact on Canadian politics.

This cynicism is not surprising if we consider that 81% of Canadians agree that corporations and the rich have too much influence P over politics in Canada. If governments are overly influenced by the interests of corporations and the rich, why would OLITICS government respond to these protests.

Canadians were more likely to believe that the gap between the rich and poor in Canada is smaller than in the U.S.. Four in ten

respondents (43%) said the gap was smaller in Canada than in the United States, while 36% said it was about the same, while 13% said it was larger.

There was no significant difference of opinion between men or women. However, younger Canadians were more likely to think the gap was smaller (57% smaller) compared with Canadians over the age of 44 (37% smaller). www.abacusdata.ca CCSR Research Series Below are a number of statements. Please tell us whether you agree or disagree with each. O

(n=996, weighted) PINION

The rich in Canada should ON

pay more taxes 55% 25%

C ORPORATIONS

The gap between the rich and poor in Canada has 55% 26% grown too large.

Large corporations and the rich have too much

influence on public policy 46% 35%

and government in Canada AND

Canadian financial THE institutions have been 32% 32%

reckless and greedy.

R ICH

Most large corporations in

Canada are unethical 20% 31% IN

C ANADA 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Strongly agree Somewhat agree

www.abacusdata.ca CCSR Research Series Survey Methodology M ETHODOLOGY From October 19 to 21, 2011, Abacus Data Inc. conducted an online survey among 1,005 randomly selected Canadian adults from an online panel of over 150,000 Canadians. There is technically no margin of error since the survey was not conducted using a probability sample. The margin of error for a survey of 1,005 respondents using a probability sample is +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20. Results of the survey were statistically weighted by gender, age, region, language, and immigration status using census data from Statistics Canada and by past vote using Elections Canada results from the 2011 General Election. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

For more information about the poll’s methodology, visit the Abacus website at www.abacusdata.ca The table below reports the unweighted and weighted distribution by region or province.

Unweighted Count Weighted Count Region/Province (All Respondents) (All respondents) Atlantic Canada 80 75

Quebec 266 240

Ontario 350 386

Prairies (MB and SK) 67 64

Alberta 99 100

BC 143 131

Total 1,005 996

CCSR Research Series

About the CCSR Conference A BOUT The third annual Corporate and Community Social Responsibility conference was held on Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 at Algonquin College in Ottawa to celebrate and showcased excellence in CCSR.

The fourth annual conference will be held on Tuesday November 15th, 2011 at Algonquin College in Ottawa. THE

Participants engaged will experts from around the country and learn new ways corporations are working with the community C CCSR and NGOs and how such relationships improve productivity and enhance the bottom line. Corporations learn about best practices and how cross-sectoral partnerships enable employees of both NGOs and corporations to better utilize their collective assets to support community building as well as social and business innovation.

For more information about the conference, visit ONFERENCE

www.ccsrconference.com

CCSR Research Series

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ET

For more information about this study or the series please contact: IN

T David Coletto, PhD OUCH Chief Executive Officer

(613) 232-2806 x. 248 [email protected] Twitter.com/ColettoD

Eli Fathi Chair Corporate and Community Social Responsibility Conference (613) 260-5007, ext. 222 [email protected] Twitter.com/oiqeli

To download detailed tables visit the Abacus Data website: www.abacusdata.ca

CCSR Research Series