Majority of residents in 4 Canadian cities believe their mayor and council are out of touch: CityNews poll

The majority of residents in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver all believe their mayor and city council are out of touch with what residents want, according to a new CityNews poll.

The survey, conducted by Maru Public Opinion for CityNews, found on an individual city basis, 74 per cent of those living in Calgary felt their mayor and council were out of touch, followed by Edmonton at 72 per cent, Vancouver at 70 per cent while 61 per cent of those in Toronto agreed.

On average across the cities, just one in four residents believed their mayor deserved to be re-elected. However, 36 per cent of Toronto respondents felt Mayor Olivia Chow deserved re-election and 58 per cent believed she was doing a good job.

Edmonton’s mayor Amarjeet Sohi has the next best numbers with 26 per cent believing he deserved re-election and 47 per cent said he is doing a good job.

Half of those in Vancouver felt Ken Sim in Vancouver was doing a good job, but just 25 per cent said he deserved re-election.

Coming up last was Calgary’s mayor Jyoti Gondek with just 18 per cent of respondents saying she deserved re-election and 41 per cent saying she was doing a good job.

Vancouver took the top spot when it came to whether city councils were doing a good job with 55 per cent agreeing, following by Toronto at 52 per cent. Of those polled in Edmonton and Calgary, 44 per cent said Edmonton’s council was doing a good job and 42 per cent in Calgary.

When it came to pride in how their city operates, Vancouver also came up on top. Forty-three per cent said they were proud of the city. This was followed by those in Edmonton at 49 per cent, Toronto at 48 per cent and Calgary at 47 per cent.

A four cities average finds a split between those residents who agree they’re proud of their city and how it operates (49%) versus those who disagree (51%). For those who have the most pride in how their city operates, Vancouver leads the way (53% agree/47% disagree), followed by those residing in Edmonton (49% agree/51% disagree), Toronto (48% agree/52% disagree), and Calgary (47% agree/53% disagree).

Taxes, COVID recovery and public transit

The poll also examined issues important to citizens including taxes, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and public transit.

Across the four cities, an average of 62 per cent said they would not support a residential tax increase for needed municipal services and infrastructure. Calgary disagreed the most at 69 per cent, followed by those in Edmonton at 62 per cent.

In Vancouver and Toronto, 59 per cent and 58 per cent of respondents, respectively, said they wouldn’t support the tax increase.

When it came to a tax raise at the gas pump to pay for road maintenance, all four cities also had the majority of respondents disagreed that taxes need to be raised. There was a similar majority of citizens who disagreed with the need for road tolls for anyone who drives into their city.

Torontonians were the least likely to agree that their public transit system was on the right track and serving them well with just 45 per cent agreeing. This was followed by Edmonton at 48 per cent, Calgary at 51 per cent and Vancouver at 59 per cent.

The COVID-19 pandemic was tough on the downtown core of each major city as the virus drove most workers home, but most of those polled believed that their downtowns have recovered.

That sentiment was highest in Toronto with 58 per cent of respondents believing they had recovered, 52 per cent of those polled in Vancouver agreed followed by 51 per cent in Calgary and 47 per cent in Edmonton.

Access to health care

Residents in all four cities were also asked to rate the health care in their cities, including how long it takes to be treated in an emergency room and their access to family doctor.

On average, only one-third had a positive view of their emergency rooms and a slim majority had positive views of their family doctor.

Calgary had the worst views of their emergency room access with 73 per cent of their sentiment being negative, followed closely behind by 71 per cent. It was slightly less in Vancouver at 64 per cent negative and Toronto with 61 per cent of those polled having a negative impression.

Raising a family

However, when it comes down to it, the majority believe they live in a world class city that is a good place to raise family.

Toronto and Vancouver felt that the strongest about their cities being world class with 64 per cent agreeing Toronto and 63 per cent in Vancouver, followed by Calgary at 57 per cent and Edmonton at 51 per cent.

The cities were swapped, though, when it came to being a good place to raise a family. Just 55 per cent in Toronto and 59 per cent in Vancouver believe their cities were good place to raise a family while the sentiment was much higher in Edmonton at 71 per cent and 70 per cent in Calgary.

The poll was conducted between August 29-September 6, 2024, among a random selection of 1,801 Canadian adults who are Unlock Surveys online panelists. Respondents were surveyed within the specific cities of Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Probability samples of this size have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.