FREE

ENTERPRISE
B.C.SURVEY
For Immediate Release

August 24, 2017 (Vancouver, B.C.) - A new survey commissioned by Free Enterprise B.C. shows
that Mike De Jong is best positioned to win an election campaign against John Horgan. The
survey of 2,050 British Columbians, conducted by Mainstreet Research, has a margin of error of
plus or minus 2.18 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

"We conducted this survey to see who would be best leader to bring Free Enterprise back to
British Columbia, said Markus Delves, spokesperson for Free Enterprise B.C.

"Already we've seen the BC NDP takes steps in the wrong direction, that will adversely eect
economic growth and prosperity in the province. As the BC Liberals choose a leader we would
urge them to choose a leader that can win so that we can return to a B.C. government that
prioritizes free enterprise."

Mainstreet tested the names of 5 potential leadership candidates against the BC NDP and asked
British Columbians who they would prefer as BC Liberal Leader.

"If British Columbians could vote, Mike De Jong would win the BC Liberal Leadership Race," said
Quito Maggi, President of Mainstreet Research in his written conclusion. "De Jong performs
better on the ballot due to his performance in the lower mainland. He outperforms the generic
ballot and is the only candidate that was tested who outpolled John Horgan."

"British Columbians would prefer De Jong as BC Liberal Leader, think he would make the best
opposition leader and that he would fare best in a general election " said Maggi.

"Given the poll results we would strongly encourage Mike De Jong to run for leader. BC needs a
Premier that will be focused on economic growth. Given his track record of scal stewardship,
including 5 balanced budgets, the fastest growing economy and lowest unemployment rates in
Canada Mike De Jong can be that leader," nished Delves.

-30-

Available for interview:

Markus Delves
604-996-7558

About Free Enterprise BC

Free Enterprise BC exists to promote public policy and advocate on issues that support free
enterprise values and the development of a strong, sustainable and socially responsible
economy.
Contents
About Mainstreet 4
Company Prole

Executive Summary 5
by Quito Maggi, President

Methodology 13

Data Tables 14-18

Poll results by question

Conclusion 19
ABOUTMAINSTREET

Mainstreet Research is a national polling rm. With 20 years of political

experience at all three levels of government, President and CEO Quito
Maggi is a respected commentator on Canadian public aairs.

Dierentiated by its large sample sizes, Mainstreet Research has provided

accurate snapshots of public opinion, having predicted a majority NDP
government in Alberta, a majority Liberal government in British Columbia
and a majority Liberal government in Ontario. Mainstreet has been the
most accurate polling rm in several by elections and the most recent
Toronto mayoral election. Most recently, Mainstreet Research was the only
polling rm to correctly predict a Liberal majority government in the 2015
Canadian federal election.
EXECUTIVESUMMARY

With the BC Liberal Leadership approaching a number of candidates are

considering entering the ring. While the race will be decided by members
of the BC Liberal party it is worth considering the eects of dierent
candidates and their standing amongst the greater electorate.

KEY FINDINGS

Former Finance Minister Mike De Jong fares best in a match-up against

John Horgans NDP.

De Jong fares about the same as the generic party score among all
voters, but outperforms the generic party brand on the decided & leaning
metric by bringing in soft Liberals.

Overall, the race in B.C. is quite close, a statistical tie, with the BC NDP at
37% and the BC Liberals at 38% among decided & leaning voters.

Decided & Leaning Match-Ups

5 candidates were tested against John Horgans NDP and Andrew

Weavers Green Party: Mike Bernier, Mike De Jong, Michael Lee, Todd
Stone and Andrew Wilkinson.

Of the 5, only De Jong outperforms the generic party score with Decided
& Leaning voters and only De Jong polls more support than John
Horgans NDP.

Bernier faces a 3 point decit, Lee trails by 8 points, Stone is down by 4

and Wilkinson faces a 3 point decit. In contrast, De Jong would lead by
4 percentage points.

The gains are most acutely seen in Greater Vancouver (Vancouver CMA)
where De Jong outperforms the generic ballot by 5 percentage points.
His eect on the ballot elsewhere is negligible.
Favourability Ratings

All candidates tested received a net negative favourability rating, though

the scores are signicantly better than those captured for Christy Clark in
her nal months.

Overall, Todd Stone received the lowest net favourability score followed
closely by De Jong and Bernier. Overall, De Jong is the best known of
the 5 candidates (least amount of not sure + not familiar with).

Mike Bernier: -5
Mike De Jong: -3
Michael Lee: -8
Todd Stone: -2
Andrew Wilkinson: -7

Who Voters Prefer

Voters were queried on who they would choose as leader of the BC Lib-
erals, if they could. Most were undecided on this question but De Jong
scored best among those who made a preference and scored best with
BC Liberal voters.

The results are similar when it comes to questions asking who would
make the best opposition leader or who would be best to face John
Horgan.

In both those cases a majority was undecided, but those who made a
choice mostly opted for Mike De Jong and the eect was magnied
among BC Liberal voters.
Among All Voters
Decided & Leaning
Favourability Ratings
If you were eligible to vote in the BC Liberal Leadership Race
which candidate would you support?
Regardless of who you are supporting, who do you think would
make the best leader of the opposition?
Regardless of who you are supporting, who do you think would
fare best against John Horgan in the next election?
METHODOLOGY

Free Enterprise B.C. commissioned a B.C. survey from Mainstreet

Research. Mainstreet surveyed a random stratied sample of 2,050
British Columbians from August 14-15, 2017 through Chimera IVR.
Landline and Cell lines were included. Responses were statistically
weighted using demographic information to targets based on the 2016
Census. Quotas were set for specic regions. Totals may not add up to
100% due to rounding.

The margin of error for survey results is 2.16 percentage points, 19

times out of 20 for the entire sample.
DATATABLES
CONCLUSION

If British Columbians could vote, Mike De Jong would win the BC Liberal
Leadership race.

All of the candidates suer from net negative favourability ratings, but
De Jongs is minimal at -3 and is essentially tied with Todd Stone who has
a -2 rating though De Jong is better known.

Ultimately, De Jong performs better on the ballot due to his performance

in the lower mainland. He outperforms the generic ballot and is the only
candidate that was tested who outpolled John Horgan.

British Columbians would prefer De Jong as BC Liberal Leader, think he

would make the best opposition leader and that he would fare best in a
general election - but much of the general public does not have an
opinion on these scores.

De Jong can take solace that he leads on all three leadership questions
with BC Liberal Voters, the voting bloc that he will need to appeal to if he
is to successfully win the BC Liberal leadership race.