Election Expectations: Insights from Canada’s Leading Pollsters
Roundtable Luncheon with Christian Bourque, Ihor Korbabicz and Sean Simpson
One of the most important functions of pollsters is to help the public understand various campaigns and election issues as well as voter preferences, candidate qualities and support for particular policy positions. The C.D. Howe Institute invites you to join us in early October 4 to hear from Canada’s leading pollsters as they discuss the hot-button issues shaping the upcoming federal election.
Christian Bourque, Executive Vice President and Partner, Leger
Ihor Korbabicz, Executive Director, Abacus Data
Sean Simpson, Vice President, Ipsos
Panelist Biographies
Christian Bourque, Executive Vice President and Partner, Leger
Christian has over 20 years of experience in the fields of public opinion and market research. Christian is Executive Vice-President at Leger and manages the Montreal research team. He is also a partner in the firm and acts as a senior consultant to the firm’s major clients. As a spokesperson for the company, Christian is a political commentator for the CBC and consumer trends columnist on the French CBC.
Outside of traditional research, Christian has also prepared numerous Affidavits and has testified in different courts where survey evidence was presented as evidence. Experiences reach from civil and administrative courts, criminal cases and class action suits.
Christian still teaches research methodology at Université de Montréal.
Ihor Korbabicz, Executive Director, Abacus Data
Ihor Korbabicz is Executive Director of Ottawa-based Abacus Data, a research and advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations respond to the unprecedented challenges of generational change and technological disruption.
Ihor leads the public affairs consulting team and is responsible for client engagements and media commentary. He has a decade of experience working with top polling and strategic communications agencies, designing research exercises that drive campaign strategy, reputation management, and advertisement targeting for some of Canada’s leading corporations, associations, and political parties.
Sean Simpson, Vice President, Ipsos
Sean Simpson is Vice President of Ipsos Public Affairs in Canada, which is the country’s leading public-opinion polling and market-research company. Ipsos is the 3rd largest research firm in the world, and the largest public-opinion pollster. Having been with Ipsos for 12 years, Sean leads the public-opinion polling specialization in Canada, with a focus on corporate reputation, crisis communications, issues management, stakeholder relations and earned media. Sean also has a particular interest in electoral behaviour and social trends. His clients include governments, NGOs, the higher-education sector and the financial-services sector. Alongside Dr. Darrell Bricker, he leads Ipsos’ relationship with Global News, Ipsos' media partner, and is a primary spokesperson for Ipsos in Canada. Sean has a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University, where he teaches crash courses in sampling and survey design at the Laurier Summer Institute for Research Methods. He lives in Kitchener with his wife, Amie. Sean is a Colleague of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and is Director of Music at St. Anne's Church in Kitchener.
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