Angus Reid — unchained
Speaking out: Pollster enjoys financial freedom to stir up social issues ‘without fear’ of offending anyone
“There’s more to life than economics.”
So says a Canadian who is extremely good at economics, particularly at turning a profit.
Angus Reid, founder of the new Angus Reid Institute for public- interest research, has employed 10,000 people during his business career, sold a polling company named after him for $100 million and is currently the major shareholder in Vision Critical, worth $300 million.
But now Reid is 67. The man inspired by his mother’s fascination with spirituality and philosophy; the Jesuits who educated him in Winnipeg; and a Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed for resisting the Nazis; is now ready to do some of his own “s--- disturbing.”
Reid claims he’s not really a “business guy.” Shaped by his early career as a sociology professor at the University of Manitoba, Reid began the Angus Reid Institute last year so he could conduct “investigative polling” on burning issues. He’s already spent almost $1 million of his own money on it, taking no salary.
There’s much more to come for the man whose name is one of the biggest in international polling. With media outlets, governments and academics drastically cutting their polling budgets, Reid feels called to make available his own surveys on a host of social, moral, religious, cultural and political questions.
“Anything, in our view, is fair game. We rely on no corporation, government or other source of funding,” Reid said, speaking with his trademark kilometre-a-minute patter in his office in downtown Vancouver.
“I’ve always wanted to have complete free rein in the research I do.”
Since he feels too young to retire, Reid has followed the lead of the non-partisan Pew Research Centre to publish objective polling data on everything from Ottawa’s anti-terrorism legislation to Canadian nationalism, from assisted suicide to Metro Vancouver’s housing affordability situation, the latter of which he considers a “massive issue.”
Reid said he can look into these controversial questions “without fear.” That’s because, unlike most other polling companies, he does not have to worry about offending or embarrassing corporate or political clients through his polling, which is based on sampling from a pool of 130,000 Canadians who have signed up to The Angus Reid Forum.
The Angus Reid Institute has conducted about 70 major national polls since September — and sometimes Reid, who feels a commitment to social and economic justice, is not exactly pleased with what he discovers.
“I often may not like the answers,” Reid said, sitting in his office boardroom under a painting of the flat Canadian Prairies, where he was raised and largely worked before he and his wife moved permanently in 1992 to Vancouver.
For instance, Reid “didn’t particularly like the high levels of support Canadians” gave to Bill C-51, the controversial anti-terrorism legislation that critics say threatens citizens’ civil liberties.
He was also not overly pleased with Canadians’ backing of assisted suicide; worrying it will be dangerous when doctors start “handing out suicide pills.” His poll on palliative care also showed how this potential alternative to assisted suicide is offered haphazardly.
As a lifelong Catholic who attends Christ the Redeemer Church in West Vancouver, Reid is also unimpressed that “a very large chunk of Canadians believe abortion is OK for choosing desirable characteristics in your kids.” The era of designer babies may be upon us.
Polling consistently reveals that Canadians are succumbing to the “trivialization of morality,” Reid said — including an obsession with the antics of celebrities.
“Consumerism is the new religion,” he said. The number of Canadians who are “anti-religious” has risen to 30 per cent and another 40 per cent are in the “muddled middle” in regards to spirituality. Young people are increasingly uninterested in prayer.
On the other hand, Reid said he was recently “heart-warmed” to discover three out of four Canadians believe national unity is important and that the country has a “unique culture,” in contrast to those who somehow imagine it is a blank slate.
The population, he said, seems “jacked up, more than before, about being Canadian.” Even though most remain shy about talking to each other, or to newcomers, about national values, Reid said, his polls show most immigrants want the host culture to answer their question, “What should I do to be Canadian?”
The Angus Reid Institute’s latest email polling (found at angusreid.org) is on the housing affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver, said Reid, who is gravely concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor.
A poll released this week shows one quarter of Metro Vancouver residents are being battered by a double-barrelled crisis: “Disturbing” transportation difficulties and substandard housing.
“These people don’t have any serenity in their lives,” Reid said.
The Angus Reid poll found 43 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents who rent are “questioning whether they should continue to live here.” The problem shows up even among Vision Critical’s 700 employees, Reid said, many of whom can’t afford the city.
“There is an underlying social bomb waiting to go off in terms of human resources. How do you recruit people to come here?”
In addition, a strong majority of Metro residents wants governments to become more involved in housing solutions.
When respondents were asked, “Should we let market forces determine things on housing, or should the government play a role,” Reid said, “75 per cent said government should play a role — and only 25 per cent said it should just be market forces.”
Reid is surprised B. C. Premier Christy Clark has so far left it to market forces to deal with the housing crisis. He said she has emphasized “preserving the value of people’s homes” over helping renters and others.
Even though an “overwhelming” proportion of renters believe governments should get more involved in housing solutions, Reid found it encouraging 50 per cent of homeowners also want governments to step in.
“It’s wrong to think of this market as consisting of two groups: That those with homes are winners and the losers rent. There’s actually a tremendous amount of homeowners who say, ‘Yeah, I might be a winner, but I’m concerned about what’s happening.’ They’re concerned about the next generation and their kids.”
In the expanding debate over unaffordability, Reid also finds it “ridiculous” Metro Vancouver’s major condominium marketer, Bob Rennie, is taken so seriously by the media, Vancouver city council and the B.C. Liberals, the latter for whom Rennie functions as chief fundraiser.
“I don’t know Bob Rennie well. But it is pathetic that a major developer ( sic) should be driving policy on an issue that’s this important in this community.”
Angus Reid can’t resist joining the public fray. With governments and academics either moving out of polling, or going about it at “a snail’s pace,” he’s using the power of objective polling to inform the crucial issues of our era.
His advancing age, and financial security, has its benefits.
“I’m really enjoying the freedom of not having to worry about my commercial customers. None of them,” he said.
“And so we simply go ahead and do what we want to do. We don’t have to worry we’re offending Christy Clark, Bob Rennie, Gregor Robertson or who heads up the B.C. trade unions.”
“I’m totally enjoying giving voice to a lot of people who have no voice.”
It’s wrong to think of this market (Vancouver) as consisting of two groups: That those withh omes are winners and the losers rent.
ANGUS REID
FOUNDER, ANGUS REID INSTITUTE