Some Torontonians think that the city is heading in the wrong direction

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

As Torontonians, we are looking for someone with experience and a focus on community engagement. Toronto is diverse, and we need a leader who appreciates that. Affordable housing and public transportation are big concerns, and our political leaders are here to address these issues to make Toronto more accessible for everyone. Taxes and regulations play a significant role, and support for small businesses, foster growth while keeping our community vibrant. When we hired our current mayor, we hoped that the individual would be committed to social justice and addressing systemic issues. We, as a community, are looking for someone who’ll actively collaborate with communities to bring positive change.

It appears that the city has spoken; a new Liaison Strategies poll for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) shows that our current mayor Olivia Chow’s approval rating has dropped by 16 points to 55%.

Liaison Strategies is a national public opinion research firm. With 11 years of experience in Canadian polling, David Valentin, principal, has fielded hundreds of projects at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and appeared across Canadian national media to discuss the results. Liaison is a member of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), Canada’s voice of the: research, analytics, and insights profession both domestically and globally.

The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and integrate economic, social and cultural interests of Ethnic communities into the mainstream of Canadian society. NEPMCC represents Canada’s Ethnic Press to the provincial and federal governments and is the major industry association for Canada’s non-official language: newspapers, TV, radio and online outlets.

Conducted from February 5^th -6^th, 2024, using interactive voice response technology, the poll surveyed 875 Toronto residents. Their recent poll found that 47% of Toronto residents approve of the proposed City of Toronto budget. Unsurprisingly, affordable housing is the top issue in the city (36%) followed by transit (21%) and crime (17%).

“The Olivia Chow honeymoon is over,” said David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies. “In previous months we’ve found her approval as high as 75% and as low as 71%. 55% is majority approval but she’s gone from a +49 (approval minus disapproval) to a +16.”

According to David, part of the cause is almost certainly the Toronto budget, but Mayor Chow also has a perceived weakness on crime. The poll asked residents to score Mayor Chow on several issues and while she received high grades on Toronto’s relationship with the federal and provincial governments (65%), and a similarly high grade for her work on affordable housing (64%), only 48% approve of her work when it comes to crime.

“When we asked Torontonians during the election if the city was moving in the right or wrong direction, most told us it was moving in the wrong direction. That’s now changed significantly and 49% say the city is moving in the right direction.”

They fielded several questions in this survey that were previously asked during the election. They asked Torontonians once again if it was better to raise taxes or cut services. Support for both has gone up: raising taxes is up to 36% from 30%, and cutting spending is up to 35% from 28% with the remainder unsure.

“Support for cutting funding from the Toronto Police Service to fund social services is down from 39% to 31% with 44% now opposing the measure,” David explains. “This despite the fact that only 17% rank crime as the most important issue facing the city.

“The numbers tell us that Torontonians mostly approve of how things are going at the moment. Approvals in the 70% range were always going to be a challenge for any politician to maintain – especially once tough conversations about the budget and tax rates took the spotlight,” concluded David.

Now, I am unsure how many people from the African Caribbean community participated in the poll. The survey states that the responses were weighted using demographic and geographic information based on the 2021 Census. We would like to engage the community and get your thoughts to some of these organizations, so that we really have a voice. Feel free to send comments online when this article goes live or share your thoughts with us at info@torontocaribbean.com. Below are some of the questions asked in the poll:

• In your opinion is the City of Toronto heading in the right direction or the wrong direction?
• Do you approve or disapprove of the job Olivia Chow is doing as Mayor of Toronto?
• In your opinion, what is the most important issue facing Toronto: affordable housing, crime, homelessness, inflation, trac, transit or something else?
• Based on what you have seen, read or heard, do you approve or disapprove of the proposed City of Toronto budget?
• Do you think it would be better for the City of Toronto to raise taxes or better for the City of Toronto to cut spending?
• Would you support or oppose cutting funding from the Toronto Police Service and spending it on social services?
• Do you approve or disapprove of the way Mayor Olivia Chow is handling *Relationship with the provincial and federal government • Affordable Housing • Crime

TORONTO CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY we want to hear from you!