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Canadians find Montreal to be significantly more dangerous than it actually is, a poll by Mainstreet Research has found.

Montreal is considered the third most dangerous of 15 major cities, according to a survey of 2,050 Canadian adults conducted last week. That’s despite 2016 Statistics Canada data, released on July 24, showing Montreal has the third-lowest police-reported crime rate of the cities included in the poll.

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The Mainstreet results were based on the difference between the percentage of respondents who found the cities safe compared with those who deemed them unsafe.

David Valentin, executive vice-president of Mainstreet, stressed that the majority of those surveyed deemed Montreal to be “safe” — 45 per cent compared with 43 per cent, giving it a rating of 2. It’s the two per cent difference in the “safe” and “unsafe” responses that lands it near the bottom.

Toronto, at -11, is considered to be the second-most dangerous city in Canada. The number represents a difference of 11 per cent between unsafe and safe responses. Winnipeg (-19) is seen as the most dangerous (a difference of 19 per cent).