TORONTO – June 19, 2002 – Leading into Canada Day, a new countrywide study released today finds that Canada’s gold medals in the 2002 Olympic hockey tournament in Salt Lake City have overtaken Paul Henderson’s winning goal the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series as the most priceless moment in Canadian sports history.

The results are part of the Canadian Priceless Index, a national survey conducted by Environics Research Group for MasterCard Canada, in which 2,000 respondents across the country were asked to reflect on what they considered to be the most priceless aspects of Canadian life, history and society, as well as our nation’s most valuable contributions to the rest of the world.

The study shows that 33 per cent of the MasterCard Canadian Priceless Index respondents believed that winning the 2002 Olympic hockey gold medals was the most priceless moment in Canadian sports history, just beating Paul Henderson’s winning goal in 1972 at 29 per cent. Jamie Salé and David Pelletier's Salt Lake City gold medals in figure skating were the choice of 19 per cent of Canadians.

Henderson's goal remains the sports highlight for Canadians over the age of 45. And among Quebec respondents, Salé and Pelletier's gold was ranked first as the sports highlight at 35 per cent, with the hockey gold medals coming in second at 29 per cent and Henderson's '72 goal at 24 per cent.

"I was among the millions of Canadian fans who watched both the 1972 and 2002 victories, and both were watershed moments in Canadian sport," said Canadian hockey great and longtime MasterCard Canada spokesperson Bobby Orr. "Whether one’s considered more priceless is a matter of personal preference, but I think the survey shows that hockey continues to be a national passion, and generation after generation of Canadians find it a priceless component of our history and culture."

Among a variety of general topics examined in the MasterCard Canadian Priceless Index, Canadians repeatedly listed sporting events and personalities among the priceless elements of Canadian life:

• When asked which event in Canadian history was most significant to them personally, nearly one-in-ten respondents (8 per cent) named the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series. The series ranked behind the creation of medicare (46 per cent), and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms being enshrined in the Constitution (29 per cent); but ahead of Canada signing the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. (6 per cent), and the referendums on Quebec independence (7 per cent).

• When asked which Canadian public figure, past or present, they admire most, three per cent named Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky was the fifth most popular ranked behind Pierre Trudeau (31 per cent), Jean Chretien (4 per cent), John Diefenbaker (4 per cent), and Rene Levesque (4 per cent) and ahead of singer Celine Dion, and Prime Ministers Lester B. Pearson and John A. MacDonald.

This survey of 2,028 Canadians 18 years of age and over was carried out by telephone between May 21 and June 5, 2002. Results to a survey of this size can be considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percent, nineteen times out of twenty.

MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of well-known, widely accepted payment brands including MasterCard® , Cirrus® and Maestro® . More than 1.7 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro logos are present on credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today. An association comprised of more than 15,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. MasterCard is a leader in quality and innovation, offering a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds. MasterCard’s award-winning Priceless® advertising campaign is now seen in 90 countries and in 45 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. With more than 24 million acceptance locations, no card is accepted in more places and by more merchants than the MasterCard Card. For the year ended December 31, 2001 gross dollar volume exceeded US$986 billion. MasterCard can be reached through its World Wide Web site at http://www.mastercard.com.

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Allison Morris, Tina Gladstone or Christopher Fox
Environics Communications for MasterCard Canada
416-920-9000
tgladstone@pr.environics.ca
cfox@pr.environics.ca