Olympics Straight Talk,73 percent of Canadians want women's ski jumping in 2010 Olympics, poll finds

Most Canadians believe women’s ski jumping should be included in Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics, a new poll has found.

Seventy-three percent of Canadians support the inclusion of women’s ski jumping as a medal sport in the Games, according to an Angus Reid Public Opinion survey released today (December 18).

Ten percent are opposed to seeing women’s ski jumping in the Games, while 17 percent aren’t sure where they stand on the issue.

On December 1, a group of female ski jumpers asked the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its appeal of two B.C. court rulings that found the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn’t apply to the selection of Olympic sports.

Those rulings determined that the International Olympic Committee made the decision to exclude women’s ski jumping from the Games, which will include men’s ski jumping.

Support for women’s ski jumping is highest in Quebec, at 79 percent. British Columbians’ level of support is the same as it is nationally, at 73 percent.

Asked if they would support cancelling the men’s ski jumping competition if the women’s event isn’t added, most Canadians (55 percent) and British Columbians (71 percent) disagreed.

However, 51 percent of Quebeckers said they’d support this move.

In addition, 63 percent of Canadians and 75 percent of British Columbians oppose moving the men’s ski jumping contest out of the country if the women’s competition isn’t included in the Olympics.

Sixty-three percent of Canadians and 62 percent of British Columbians support the female ski jumpers asking the Supreme Court to hear their case.

In a July ruling, B.C. Supreme Court justice Lauri Ann Fenlon called the exclusion of women’s ski jumping “discriminatory” but found it wasn’t a breach of the charter.

In response, the IOC issued a statement denying it had discriminated against female ski jumpers.

The IOC stated its decision was “based on technical issues, without regard to gender”.

Angus Reid polled 1,006 Canadian adults from December 7 to December 8. The results of its on-line survey have a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Source:straight.com/