Parks Canada Awareness Tracking Study 2014-2015

POR Number: POR 005-14
Contract Number: 5P034-140063/001/CY  Quantitative
Award Date: May 1, 2014
Delivery Date: March 30, 2015
Contract Value: $99,096.41 (including HST)

Executive Summary

Prepared for Parks Canada Agency

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Executive summary

This report presents the results and findings from the 2014-2015 Awareness Tracking Study conducted by Harris/Decima, on behalf of Parks Canada Agency. Telephone interviews were conducted as part of Harris/Decima’s telephone omnibus in June 2014 (n=2,193, between June 19th and 29th, 2014), September/October 2014 (n=2,176, between September 25th and October 5th, 2014), December 2014 (n=2,190, between December 4th and 15th, 2014), and March 2015 (n=2,209, between March 5th to 15th, 2015). Interviews were conducted in the respondent’s choice of English or French.

The margin of error for each study wave was ± 2.1%, 19 times out of 20, and the resultant margin of error for the combined tracking period was ± 1.1%, 19 times out of 20.

The study was designed to target a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adult Canadians (aged 18 and over) per study and oversamples (where necessary) to obtain 250 adults each wave from three CMAs – Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Parks Canada employs the Awareness Tracking Survey to measure and track on an on-going basis awareness of Parks Canada and its logo among Canadians, as well as to understand Canadians’ opinions and support of the Agency.

This executive summary outlines the major findings from the 2014-2015 surveys.

Awareness of Parks Canada

Strong public awareness of Parks Canada, its agency name, and its logo, remained strong through the 2014-2015 tracking period:

• Unaided awareness remained stable, and ‘Parks Canada’ remains the top agency name mentioned. Across Canada, a quarter of residents (22%) correctly identified Parks Canada as the organization or government department that operates officially designated National Parks and National Historic Sites of Canada without prompting.
• Total awareness (unaided plus aided) of Parks Canada remained stable from June until September, and rose in March. The vast majority (84%) of Canadians were aware of Parks Canada in March. This is an improvement over the three previous study waves (ranging from 81% to 82%).
• Awareness of the ‘Beaver’ logo was stable. Awareness of Parks Canada’s corporate logo was 24% in September and 22% in March.
• Awareness tended to be higher in Alberta and Atlantic Canada, and lower in Quebec. For both the Agency name and logo, awareness is higher in Alberta and Atlantic Canada.  Residents in Quebec are less aware of the Agency name than the national average.

Recall of Recent Messaging

Parks Canada aims to promote its work with Canadians through a variety of channels. Key findings for how Canadians learn about the Agency are outlined below:

• Half of Canadians had heard something about Parks Canada in the last three months, when asked. Nationally, 48% of Canadians said that they had heard, read or watched something about Parks Canada, National Historic Sites or National Parks in the past three months. This result peaked in June for Parks Canada and National Parks, and in September for National Historic Sites.  All three measures then trended downward until March.
• There was regional variation in recall of Parks Canada information and learning. Similar to trends seen in general awareness, Canadians in Alberta and Atlantic Canada had higher levels of recall, while levels were significantly lower in Quebec.
• Television was the source mentioned most often, and remained fairly stable over the tracking period. Rounding out the top three sources of information were newspapers and websites other than the Parks Canada website.
• Canadians remembered hearing about a broad variety of topics related to Parks Canada. Information about specific National Parks and National Historic Sites was recalled most often. Wildlife and environmental protection and opening new parks/sites were other topics mentioned more frequently than others.

Opinions and Support of Parks Canada

Canadians have positive and supportive attitudes toward National Parks and National Historic Sites:

• Opinions of Parks Canada were favourable, and remained stable over the tracking period. Overall, nearly three quarters (73%) of Canadians had a favourable opinion of Parks Canada.  This result was consistent in each study wave.
• Albertans had more positive attitudes toward Parks Canada. In each of the waves tested, residents in Alberta reported more favourable opinions of Parks Canada than the national average.
• Canadians were avid supporters of the Parks Canada mandate. Over the tracking period, eight in ten (79%) respondents said they supported Parks Canada’s mandate. While there was some fluctuation in the intensity of that support, the percentage of Canadians who opposed the mandate remained stable (at 2-3%).
• Residents of Quebec tended to have lower levels of support of Parks Canada’s mandate. Excluding March, where the results were in line with the national average, Quebecers reported lower levels of support than the national average across the tracking period.

Research Firm: Harris/Decima Inc.
Contract Number: 5P034-130343-001-CY Quantitative
Contract Award Date: May 1, 2014
Contract Value: $99,096.41 (including HST)

I hereby certify as Senior Officer of Harris/Decima Inc. that the deliverables fully comply with the
Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the
Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research.
Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party
preferences, standings with the electorate or ratings of the performance of apolitical party or its
leaders.

Danielle Armengaud, Research Director
Harris/Decima Inc