Canadians assess extent of social assistance cheating

A Gallup survey conducted July 9-14, 1996, found that 54% of Canadians believe that social assistance recipients are cheating in some way. Of those surveyed, less-educated Canadians and women see fraud as widespread and most say 30% of recipients are cheating. While 60% support a plan to use fingerprint scanning to stop cheaters, 53% would support using scans on all Canadians for ID purposes. Those who perceive widespread fraud are most supportive of the scanning proposal. Quebecers heavily support fingerprint scanning, with 70% in favor.