Canadian gov't cuts research spend by 21%

CANADA-- Government spend on public opinion research was down 21% in the 2007-2008 financial year, according to a report out this week – with one supplier seeing almost 50% of its contract value wiped out.

The Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper kept its promise to reduce spend after being criticised for presiding over a 17% increase in research expenditure in its first full fiscal year in power.

Public Works Canada said that the 07/08 research bill was just C$24.8m, compared to C$31.4m in 06/07.

Hardest hit by the cut was Ekos Research Associates. In 06/07 it was the top supplier of research services to the government, handling over C$6m in contracts. However, the latest report says it managed only C$3.28m in contracts in the most recent financial year – a reduction of 45%.

The agency has slipped to third place in the supplier rankings behind Ipsos Reid, which saw almost C$2m wiped off the value of its contracts. The top supplier, Environics Research Group, was down C$300,000 year-on-year.

Unfortunately for research agencies, there are likely to be further cuts to come of at least C$3m as the government previously set a target of reducing public opinion research spend by C$10m in the 08/09 financial year.

Click here for the full report, entitled Opinions Matter.

Author: Brian Tarran

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