The War on Christmas in Canada No War But Some Irritation BDO Dunwoody Weekly CEO/Business Leader Poll by COMPAS in the Financial Post for Publication December 26, 2005 COMPAS Inc. Public Opinion and Customer Research December 26, 2005
1.0 Introduction Conflict in the air waves over whether there is or is not a war on Christmas is the latest manifestation of culture wars in the United States. Fox News ratings winner Bill O'Reilly perceives an effort to get Christianity and Judaism out of the public square" and carry out a secular progressive agenda on behalf of the mainstream media, the American Civil Liberties Union, and their leftwing allies. If you can get religion out, then you can,,,[legalize] narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually." 1 For their part, liberals and the mainstream media tend to take the position that O Reilly, fellow host and author John Gibson 2, and Fox News are hyping or imagining the issue to increase ratings and serve an ideological agenda (see www.mediamatters.org). The CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel do not perceive a war on Christmas in Canada. They report a moderate amount of discussion about how their businesses should treat the holiday and apparently almost no conflict or dissension. As in the United States, panellists perceive a longterm trend in Canada towards secular portrayals of the holiday, and some volunteer a concern that the Christian roots of the holiday are being obscured. These are the key findings from the most recent survey of the COMPAS business panel for The National Post on behalf of BDO Dunwoody LLP. 2.0 The Details A clear majority of CEOs and business leaders on the panel (57) see the media battle between secularists and traditionalists over Christmas as less developed in Canada than in the United States, as shown in table 2A. Yet about a tenth see it as 1 Cited at http://mediamatters.org/items/200511210003, O'Reilly's comments came during a November 18 discussion on his television show, The O'Reilly Factor, about "which American stores are using 'Christmas' in advertising this Christmas season and which are not." 2 Author of the best seller, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought (Sentinel, October 2005). 1
more developed here at home. The fact that a tenth see the conflict as more developed may be a harbinger of future division on the issue. It may be that the issue is just beginning to come to the surface, at least in English-Canada. Some respondents do not expect the war on Christmas to cross the Canada-U.S. border. As a francophone respondent put it, Christian political activism has no counterpart in Canada except perhaps in parts of Saskatchewan or Alberta. Canada has experienced the same long-term trend in secularization of Christian holidays that has taken place in the United States (table 2B). Among panellists, 70 say that businesses have become more secular in their observance of holidays than they were a decade ago. One respondent captured this strain of secular pluralism in his seasonal wishes: I would like to wish all [panellists] a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Prosperous New Year. Our firm also acknowledges Ramadan and Lunar New Year as our way of maintaining respect for our team members beliefs. CEOs and business leaders are divided about whether Canadian businesses are more secular or more traditional than their American counterparts in their celebratory practices, as shown table 2C. But they are not divided about whether the issue has provoked discord or discussion. Almost none of their businesses received any complaint about being too secular or too traditional, as shown in table 2D. Meanwhile a sizeable minority have discussed the issue (29) but most (69) have not. Most of the volunteered opinions pine for celebratory expression that gives clearer indications of the Christian roots of Canada s most popular holiday: I have been pleasantly surprised at how many times I have been wished a Merry Christmas at retail establishments. I make it a point to be very generous in my tipping when wished a Merry Christmas by a server. I would encourage others to do so as well. Quite frankly I have had more than enough of the politically correct nonsense regarding this religious holiday. The non-believers do not seem to have a problem enjoying a traditional meal or the camaraderie shared at these times. You missed asking us how we feel about the business community move to secular celebration. I think we are absolutely wrong to water down the traditional celebration. With respect to the holiday season, the reality is it IS Christmas. Not everyone may celebrate Christmas, which has to be respected, but employees and customers are strongly and rightfully pushing back that we should not disregard the fact that the holiday IS Christmas in an effort to be politically correct. 2
It is so sad to see the situation in the United States, where it is no longer possible to celebrate Christmas in the traditional way. Table 2A: (Q1) As you may know, there has been a media battle in the U.S. between secularists and traditionalists over whether to wish people Merry Christmas or Season s Greetings and over the place of Christmas trees (or holiday trees) and religious symbols in department stores and other public places. So far as you can tell, is this controversy [ROTATE POLES] A lot less developed in Canada 23 Somewhat less developed in Canada 34 About the same as in Canada 27 Somewhat more developed in Canada 9 Much more developed in Canada 4 Don t know or no opinion 2 Table 2B: (Q2) Compared to a decade ago ago, in the last year or so have Canadian businesses [ROTATE POLES] Become a lot more secular in their celebrations and greetings 20 Become somewhat more secular 50 Remained about the same 25 Become somewhat more traditionalist 3 Become a lot more traditionalist 0 Don t know or no opinion 1 3
Table 2C: (Q3) Compared to American businesses, would you say Canadian businesses are [ROTATE POLES] A lot more traditionalist in recognizing the Christian character of the holiday 7 Somewhat more traditionalist 23 About the same 30 Somewhat more secular 27 A lot more secular 12 Don t know or no opinion 3 Table 2D: (Q4) Has your organization received any complaints and had any discussion on these themes? Discussion only 26 Complaints only 1 Discussion and complaints 3 None of the above 69 Don t know or no opinion 1 2.0 Methodology The COMPAS web-survey of CEOs and leaders of small, medium, and large corporations and among executives of the local and national Chambers of Commerce was conducted December 20-22, 2005. Respondents constitute an essentially handpicked panel with a higher numerical representation of small and medium-sized firms. Because of the small population of CEOs and business leaders from which the sample was drawn, the study can be considered more accurate than comparably sized general public studies. In studies of the general public, surveys of 138 are deemed accurate to within approximately 8.4 percentage points 19 times out of 20. The principal and co-investigator on this study are Conrad Winn, Ph.D and Tamara Gottlieb. 4