A spokesman for the group said that concern over health care has been rising steadily over the last two years, and that 80 percent of Canadians describe the system as being in crisis, and only 25 percent approve of the quality of medical services.
Health care is the highest priority by a wide margin, according to the poll.
The next highest, education, got only 23 percent, followed by taxes, with 19 percent, and unemployment, with 15 percent. In a report released Tuesday, the Reform Party revealed that in the three months before the 1997 election, the number of subsidies approved per month jumped from fewer than 200 to nearly 500. Additionally, the report showed that there were substantial differences in the amount of money given to different ridings. BC Attorney General set to become premier Ujjal Dosanjh, the Attorney General of British Columbia, seems in position to win the leadership of the provinces ruling New Democratic Party. Dosanjh, who immigrated to Canada from India in 1968, would be the first Canadian premier of Punjabi descent.