Canadians holding anger in, poll says

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, July 28 (UPI) -- The number of Canadians who have pent-up anger about issues such as high gas prices is high enough to cause concern, a polling agency said.

Fifty-five percent of poll respondents said they were angry or upset about one of six issues -- including China's treatment of Tibet, environmental issues, gas prices, taxes, neighborhood crime and Canada's mission to Afghanistan -- compared to 26 percent who say they're content, or 18 percent who are "resigned," Canwest News Service reported Monday.

Ipsos Reid conducted the poll on Canada's temperament for Canwest and Global Television.

Of the 1,022 people surveyed, the angry majority consists of two volatile groups, pollsters said. One group -- 20 percent -- indicated it would do something to show their frustration; the other -- 35 percent -- kept things bottled up because respondents said they can't "do anything about it," which raised alarms for pollsters, Canwest said.

"We found something that I think is deeply concerning -- this pent-up frustration," said John Write, Ipsos Reed senior vice president. "It's like having natural gas in the air, and if there's a spark of some kind, it can explode."

The angriest Canadians live on the coasts, pollsters said.