加通社多伦多电/民调公司HarrisDecima最新调查结果显示，大多数加拿大人希望联邦政府能够致力维持一个与美国截然不同的国家身分及文化。
受访国民之中，82%认为政府应该竭力保持一个有别于美国的加拿大文化。但对于其中自认拥有政党联系的受访者而言，只有46%保守党人士赞同有关看法。
该次调查在11月15日至25日进行，期间合共访问了逾2,000名加人。调查结果并且显示，61%受访者反对加国电话公司由外资拥有，反对国内有线电视供应商由外资拥有的受访者比率则为57%。
每5名加拿大人之中便有接近3人(相等于59%)反对由外资拥有传媒公司。46%受访者认为，若果加国广播及有线电视公司由外资拥有的话，电台及电视节目的加拿大内容便将减少。
有加西环讯(CanWest Global Communications)最近宣布斥资23亿元收购Alliance Atlantis，当中资金大部分来自美国投资银行高盛(Goldman Sachs)。
62%会选择反对外资政客
调查并且发现，62%国民更大机会投票支持该些反对加国广播及电话公司增加外资拥有权比例的联邦候选人。
该次调查的误差率为2.2个百分点。调查结果于周三公布，正值加拿大文化监察组织加拿大广播之友联同加拿大电影、电视及广播艺员联盟及加拿大通讯、能源及造纸工人工会于同一天在卡加利推出一个全国性活动。
有关团体表达他们支持限制外资公司拥有加国传媒及通讯公司控制权的现行做法。
加拿大广播之友发言人麦多克(Peter Murdoch)表示，活动目的在于向总理哈珀发出外资控制加国传媒及通讯公司的相关信息。
National identity important, poll suggests
Dec 05, 2007 12:59 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
The vast majority of Canadians want the federal government to work to maintain a national identity and culture distinct from the United States, suggests a new HarrisDecima poll commissioned by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
Eighty-two per cent of Canadians feel the government should make serious efforts to sustain a Canadian culture that’s separate from the U.S.
The survey of more than 2,000 Canadians, conducted between Nov. 15 and Nov. 25, also suggests that 61 per cent are opposed to the foreign ownership of telephone companies, and 57 per cent feel similarly about the foreign ownership of cable providers.
Nearly three in five Canadians, or 59 per cent, are opposed to the foreign ownership of media companies, while 46 per cent said they expected Canadian content on radio and television would decrease with the foreign ownership of Canada’s broadcasting and cable companies.
Those findings are timely given the ongoing attempt by CanWest Global Communications to buy Alliance Atlantis for $2.3 billion in funds provided largely by American investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The survey also suggests that 62 per cent of Canadians are more likely to vote for a federal candidate who oppose increased foreign ownership of Canada’s broadcasting and telephone companies.
The poll has a margin of error of 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20. It was released as the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a Canadian cultural watchdog, was preparing to launch a national campaign in Calgary with ACTRA and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
The groups are voicing their support of current foreign ownership restrictions that prevent foreign companies from acquiring control of Canadian media and telecommunications firms.
A Friends spokesman says the campaign – called “Keep it Canadian” – hopes to send out a message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the foreign control of Canada’s media and communications companies.
“We want to show the prime minister that Canadians everywhere – including in his own backyard – want to keep our media and communications Canadian-owned and controlled because whoever controls the media also controls the message,” said Peter Murdoch of the CEP.
The federal government has established the Competition Policy Review, a panel of business leaders who will be reviewing the foreign ownership rules and reporting back in June next year.
12:39ET 05-12-07
http://www.thestar.com/article/282832
Opponents of Alliance sale flag poll results
Canadians fear foreign ownership of domestic media, survey finds
Dec 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Rita Trichur
BUSINESS REPORTER
Critics opposing the buyout of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. by CanWest Global Communications Corp. and its American partner stepped up their protest with a new poll suggesting that most Canadians believe cultural sovereignty ought to trump foreign ownership of domestic media.
ACTRA, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting released the results yesterday to jumpstart a debate on the touchy issue of Canadian cultural identity at a time when the federal broadcast regulator is still reviewing the deal.
Their poll suggests that 66 per cent of respondents “believe broadcasting and communications are too important to our national security and cultural sovereignty to allow foreign control of Canadian companies in this sector.”
Stephen Waddell, national executive director of ACTRA, said the $2.3 billion takeover of Alliance Atlantis by CanWest and New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. is “foreign ownership by the back door.” Goldman Sachs is funding 64 per cent of the acquisition price but CanWest plans to control Alliance Atlantis through a majority of voting shares.
“What in fact happens in boardrooms of Goldman Sachs and CanWest Global is not going to be seen by the public and that is where the real power is exercised,” Waddell said.
Goldman Sachs has already assured the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that it is not eyeing control of any Canadian broadcaster. The CRTC held hearings on the takeover last month and will likely issue a decision in early 2008.
Pointing to the poll’s other key finding, Waddell said 82 per cent of Canadians agree it is important for the federal government to maintain and build a culture and identity “distinct” from the United States.
Also taking a jab at the government-appointed panel reviewing federal competition laws, he expressed concern that Ottawa might “relax or eliminate” the current 46.7 per cent foreign ownership limit on broadcasting and telecommunications companies.
That panel – headed by Lynton (Red) Wilson, chair of CAE Inc. and a former chief executive of BCE Inc. – was appointed in July amid mounting criticism that foreign takeovers are “hollowing out” this country’s corporate landscape. The group also plans to examine whether foreign ownership restrictions in protected sectors, such as telecommunications, discourage competition.
The findings were gathered in telephone interviews conducted between Nov. 15 and 25 by Harris/Decima. They are based on a randomly selected sample of 2,052 Canadians with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Neither Goldman Sachs nor CanWest could be reached for comment.
http://www.thestar.com/article/282982
