Majority,
including union members, approve of Bill C-377
Most want bill to apply to business organizations as well
TORONTO July 8th,
2015 - In a
random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll among 1200 Canadian
voters, two thirds (62%) approve of Bill C-377, the legislation which requires
unions to disclose expenditures and salaries. Just one fifth do not approve
(18%), although this increases to more than a quarter among union members
(28%). Even among this group, the majority (59%) approve of the bill.
Support
for the bill is common to older Canadians (55 to 64 - 71%), males (65%) rather
than females (58%), among federal Conservatives (81%), but not so much New
Democrats (49%). Francophones are more supportive (69%) than Anglos (60%).
Wide majority want bill to apply to business organizations too
More
than three quarters of voters (78%) agree the provisions of Bill C-377 should
also apply to business organizations such as the Canadian Federation of
Independent Business (CFIB) or the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
(CAPP). This is the case even in households with no union members (76%). In
fact, the only group among whom disagreement with this proposition exceeds one
tenth is Albertans (21%).
"It is not surprising that a
bill which calls for transparency would gather majority support, but the bill’s
proponents should not in turn be surprised if voters see the bill being good
for gander as well as goose. They may come to regret the innovative legislation
they just passed," said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne
Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum
Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
