CALGARY – Calgarians are narrowly giving their city an A in an annual report card evaluating citizen satisfaction.
Market research company Ipsos released their findings in the 2015 Citizen Satisfaction Survey at City Hall Monday. They spoke to a random sample of 2,450 Calgarians between Aug. 27 and Oct. 1.
Results showed that 86 per cent of Calgarians say their quality of life is good, down one per cent from last year.
There is evidence, however, that the economic downturn is taking its toll.
One quarter of respondents say quality of life in our city has worsened in the past three years, up a significant five per cent from 2014 and 8 per cent from 2013. There is also a five per cent decrease in the proportion of Calgarians who say their quality of life has ‘improved’ in the past three years.
Participants also suggested the city should invest more in transit, affordable housing, traffic flow management and transportation planning. Three quarters of those surveyed thought it was a good time for Calgary to invest in infrastructure. Almost 90 per cent of Calgarians agree that the city can play a big role in helping the community weather difficult times.
Calgary Mayor, Naheed Nenshi, admits he’s no economic professor but said, “there’s a lot of white-collar jobs that come with heavy infrastructure spending, but then, there’s also huge spin-off benefits: for the food truck that locates at the construction site or the local restaurant for the print shop that makes signs for the retailers who sell the work boots. The spin-off benefits of this kind of core, basic economic activity can be felt throughout the economy.”
Fifty-nine per cent also suggested increasing taxes in order for the city to maintain or improve their level of service.
This year, the survey also included additional questions to help the city understand what impact the economy has on Calgarians.
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The majority of respondents (67 per cent) indicated the economic downturn has impacted their household and most (61 per cent) said they didn’t expect the “bad” economic situation to improve.
Survey results will help guide Council as they make decisions about capital investments.
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