OPINION28 January 2011
With very little being spent on public opinion research, the Canadian government seems to be turning to media monitoring services to meet their information needs. But this approach doesn’t play well with the press.
There’s no love lost between the Canadian government and the market research industry – swingeing cuts to public opinion research spend over the past several years have seen to that. But one might feel an element of sympathy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative colleagues. They’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t, it seems.
Three years ago the government was criticised for spending too much money on surveys. This week the Ottawa Citizen reports that more money is going on media monitoring contracts than public opinion research.
“Government more interested in what media says than in opinion of average voter,” the sub-head reads.
As pollster Frank Graves of Ekos notes, the government seems to be trying to “fill the information void” left by the research cuts (previously reported here).
Of course, with all that money being spent on media monitoring, the government is bound to learn of this story. Perhaps it’ll prompt them to channel a bit more money back into surveys.