Almost half of people polled by Ipsos Reid say they would like to see the provincial government place the greatest priority on increasing funding for services such as health and education over the next few years.
Out of three choices, 46 per cent say that would be their first. Reducing the provincial debt came second at 35 per cent, and lowering taxes came third at 15 per cent. Four per cent answered ‘don’t know’.
Between men and women, men narrowly chose reducing debt over increased funding for services, while women chose increasing funding for services over reducing debt.
Participants were also asked, if elected, which parties do they think would do the best job of balancing resource development and environmental protection?
Adrian Dix and the NDP came out on top with 39 per cent. Christy Clark and the BC Liberals came second with 30 per cent, John Cummins and the BC Conservatives came third with 15 per cent, and Jane Sterk and the Green Party came in last with only 12 per cent of the vote.
Christy Clark and the BC Liberals would put too much focus on resource development, according to the poll, as they ended up with 49 per cent of the vote.
And participants felt Jane Sterk and the Green Party would put too much focus on the environment, as they received 61 per cent of the vote.
47 per cent of those polled said they didn’t know how well John Cummins and the BC Conservatives would do at balancing resource development and environmental protection as 47 per cent of people chose that option.
None of the four parties get great marks on balancing resource development and environmental protection, but the NDP does the best. The NDP has the highest score for striking the right balance and the lowest score for a skew in any one direction.
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll of 455 adult British Columbians conducted online using Ipsos Reid’s national online household panel between April 22 and 23, 2013. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of ±4.6%, 19 times out of 20. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual BC population according to 2011 Census data.
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