D7

By SHERYL UBELACKER
The Canadian Press

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TORONTO - Opposition politicians and the media may be hammering governments for their handling of the H1N1 situation, but a new poll suggests Canadians themselves feel their governments are doing an OK job.

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The Canadian Press

Three-year-old Elizabeth Little cries after receiving her H1N1 flu vaccine at the Brandon H1N1 Flu Clinic at the Town Centre in Brandon, Man. In a recent survey, 65 per cent of Canadians said news organizations had overreacted to H1N1 influenza.

The media's coverage of H1N1 on the other hand - well, that doesn't earn much admiration.

The latest Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found that overall, most respondents see all three levels of government as having done at least a fair job of preparing for, and dealing with, the H1N1 flu virus.

Almost one-quarter (22 to 24 per cent) of those surveyed said each level of government has done a good job dealing with swine flu, while another third or more (33 to 37 per cent) describe their performance as at least fair.

However, about one-third of respondents graded the response of each level of government - municipal, provincial or territorial, and federal - as poor.

"Fundamentally, I can understand why 22 per cent to 24 per cent saying you've done a good job on something isn't really your best day," said Doug Anderson, senior vice-president of Harris-Decima.

"However, the complexity of the task and the fact that nothing like this has really ever been done, to me that says it's more like a passing grade," Anderson said from Ottawa. "But at the same time, I don't see this as collective criticism."

Still, not every government escaped the displeasure of its electorate.

Albertans were highly critical of the province's handling of the pandemic, with 61 per cent of respondents rating the performance as poor, the poll shows.

"The most significant (issue), I would say, was there was a controversy over the fact that the Calgary Flames hockey players and their families had been given the vaccine while others were finding it more difficult to get," said Anderson, noting that the anger was intensified when the province subsequently ran out of vaccine.

Opinions about the handling of swine flu were similar across the country and for all three levels of government, he said.

"But in Alberta, they're strikingly different."

The survey of 1,000 people - considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 - also found that Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more impressed with governments' performance than those 50 and older. The poll was conducted Nov. 5 through Nov. 8.

When it comes to media coverage, 65 per cent of Canadians surveyed said news organizations had overreacted to H1N1 influenza.

"That says to me that Canadians are leaning pretty heavily towards saying there's been a bit more hype about this than they might have found preferable," said Anderson, adding that the age, level of education and sex of respondents made little difference.