Canadian Pollster Faces Enquiry

Canada's professional association the MRIA is looking into a number of complaints about the conduct of Campaign Research Inc., a Conservative pollster accused of carrying out biased and misleading surveys regarding voting intentions.

Three formal complaints were received concerning an alleged misinformation campaign against Montreal-based Liberal MP Irwin Cotler. Constituents complained that Campaign Research - working for federal Conservatives - falsely informed them that Cotler had resigned or was about to resign and that a by-election was imminent.

The ruling party has backed the tactic as a legitimate means of establishing likely voting behavior in the event of a by-election, while Campaign Research exec Nick Kouvalis claimed in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen's Glen McGregror: 'We've done tens of millions of dials through our call centre and there's never been any complaint launched against us. We're in the business of getting Conservatives elected and ending Liberal careers. We're good at it.'

The MRIA's Executive Director Brendan Wycks says of this last comment: 'Definitely that's not what marketing research is all about' and promises that such claims will be taken into account as the complaints are assessed. Campaign Research is a 'gold-seal' corporate member of the MRIA and must abide by its code of conduct and good practice. The company has strong links to the country's Conservatives, polling for nearly forty of their candidates during the last election campaign; and Campaign's co-founder Richard Ciano, is currently running for President of the Ontario Tories.

To date, the MRIA has received two formal complaints and up to a dozen further expressions of concern from members of the public, and one from formal complaint another polling company said not to be involved in political surveys.

Possible sanctions if the company is found guilty of a breach include public reprimand, suspension or even expulsion from the MRIA.

Thanks to www.ipolitics.ca for the above. The MRIA is online at www.mria-arim.ca .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.