It pays to be a pollster during election years, new figure show..Blacklock's Reporter says federal spending on election-year public opinion research jumped 17%, says a Department of Public Works report..Bureaucrats commissioned polls at the rate of three a week in 2021..“Public opinion research is the collection of opinion-based information from the public or any target audience,” said the Annual Report On Government Of Canada Public Opinion Research Activities. .“We use quantitative and qualitative methods such as surveys and focus groups to gather attitudes, feelings, ideas, opinions, perceptions and views.”.Spending on polls increased from $15.5 million to $18.1 million last year, a 17% increase. A total 155 contracts were issued to pollsters and research companies. Annual spending on polls previously averaged $4 million a year in 2014 and 2015..The Department of Health and Public Health Agency outspent all others at $3.6 million followed by the Privy Council Office ($2.3 million), Canada Revenue Agency ($1.2 million), Financial Consumer Agency of Canada ($694,000), Department of Employment ($659,000) and Department of Veterans Affairs ($563,000)..“The Government of Canada takes public perspectives into account to develop and implement policies, programs and communications campaigns effectively,” wrote staff. .The largest federal contracts overall included:.$2,956,939 to Environics Research Group Limited;$2,076,161 to Ekos Research Associates Incorporated;$1,448,739 to Léger Marketing;$1,396,862 to Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Incorporated;$1,390,362 to Earnscliffe Strategy Group Incorporated..Parliament in 2006 passed the Federal Accountability Act that required all taxpayer-funded research be published within six months..Federal spending on pollsters ran as high as $26.2 million in 2002 and $23.7 million in 2003, prompting an Auditor General’s report that complained of “troubling cases” of partisan questionnaires at taxpayer expense. .Federal polling dates from a 1968 Canadian Facts Co. Ltd. survey commissioned by the Privy Council Office that questioned 7,600 Canadians nationwide on perceptions of government..Half rated it inefficient and untrustworthy.
