A majority of Canadians oppose foreign ownership of the media, telephone and cable firms, and believe the government should play a role in preserving Canada's cultural identity, according to a Harris/Decima poll released Wednesday.
The survey, released Wednesday in Alberta, found 82 per cent of Canadians believe it is important that the Canadian government work to maintain and build a culture and identity distinct from the United States.
However, only 46 per cent of Canadians who identified themselves as supporters of the Conservative party supported government measures to preserve Canadian identity.
The survey of more than 2,000 Canadians was conducted between Nov. 15 and Nov. 25 for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, actors' union ACTRA, and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.
It found 61 per cent of Canadians oppose foreign ownership of telephone companies, 57 per cent oppose foreign control of cable firms and 59 per cent oppose foreign ownership of media companies.
Those living in the Prairies, Ontario and British Columbia were most likely to oppose foreign ownership in all three sectors.
Nearly half of Canadians — about 46 per cent — feared that Canadian content on radio and television would decline if foreign companies owned the media.
The two unions and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting have opposed CanWest Global Communications' bid to buy Alliance Atlantis with funding from American investment bank Goldman Sachs on the grounds that the deal will result in foreign control of Canadian media interests.
The study is the start of a campaign called "Keep it Canadian" that will urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper to maintain current restrictions on foreign ownership of Canadian media and telecommunications firms.
"Powerful lobbyists for the cable industry are at work right now, quietly trying to persuade the federal government to allow Americans to buy them out," Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said in a statement.
"If they succeed, there's nothing to stop foreign companies from taking control of Canadian media and telecommunications too."
The poll suggests 62 per cent of Canadians are more likely to vote for candidates who oppose giving control of Canadian media to foreign interests, up slightly from December 2003 when this question was last posed.
Hopes poll affects Harper's thinking of Canada
Peter Murdoch of the CEP, a union whose members' jobs could be affected by foreign takeovers, says he hopes the poll will affect Harper's thinking if Canada is thrown into a general election.
"We want to show the prime minister that Canadians everywhere — including in his own backyard — want to keep our media and communications Canadian owned and controlled, because whoever controls the media also controls the message," he said.
The federal government has established the Competition Policy Review, a panel of business leaders that will be reviewing the foreign ownership rules and reporting back in June next year.
The federal broadcast regulator has yet to review the deal for Alliance Atlantis.
The poll has a margin of error of 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
© CBC
