Floods brought out best in Albertans, poll finds
As flood waters rose around southern Alberta, people throughout the province rose to the occasion to help their stricken neighbours, according to a new poll.
The survey of 974 Albertans earlier this month also gave high marks to authorities for their response to the flooding, including emergency workers and municipal officials — particularly Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
“You see a sense of community there,” said Mario Canseco, vicepresident of Insights West, which conducted the survey.
“You had a community that rallied around those who were less fortunate.”
When asked to rate how various sectors performed in relation to June’s flooding, 94 per cent rated the performance of first responders as “excellent” or “good.”
Just under 90 per cent of respondents gave the same rating to media outlets, followed by 84 per cent approval for how their fellow Albertans handled the crisis.
The pride over how Albertans responded was backed up by a companion survey, which asked people what they have done to help flood relief efforts.
A total of 43 per cent of respondents said they had donated money, with 21 per cent more contributing food or goods and 12 per cent rolling up their sleeves and volunteering for cleanup efforts.
Lucy Miller, president and CEO of the United Way of Calgary, said she has seen the generosity of local people and corporations first-hand.
“Right from the beginning, we saw a high level of commitment from the community in terms of volunteerism,” Miller said.
Charities such as the United Way, Canadian Red Cross and the Calgary Foundation have now logged more than $30 million in donations from Calgary and across the country, earmarked for flood relief.
Considering the scale of destruction, Miller said it’s important to keep up the momentum with fundraising. “The work is going to go on for months and years,” she said.
People seem satisfied with how authorities handled the immediate crisis, with 82 per cent of survey respondents answering that Nenshi has done an “excellent” or “good” job handling the effects of the flood.
Nenshi outpolled city administration, which got a 76 per cent approval rating.
“His ability to be everywhere was extraordinary,” said David Taras, a political analyst at Mount Royal University.
“It was understood by Calgarians that somebody was on top of things and watching out on their behalf.”
The provincial government got an excellent or good rating from 74 per cent of respondents, but Premier Alison Redford polled lower at 59 per cent.
Although Taras believes Nenshi did a legitimately good job, he said the mayor’s rating was also boosted by the constant visibility his job demanded during the crisis.
Taras believes Redford also did a good job, but her approval may have suffered simply because her role didn’t involve the constant briefings and updates Nenshi’s did.
The poll found widespread support for the provincial government’s $1-billion pledge for immediate flood recovery and reconstruction.
“(Redford’s) messages were positive — ‘This is what we’re going to do to help people’ — and she became the Helper-in-Chief,” Taras said.
The federal government didn’t fare as well, with only 45 per cent responding it did an excellent or good job. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was slightly behind, at 43 per cent.
“Harper was a bit of a surprise,” Canseco said, considering the prime minister’s base of support in Calgary.
Like Taras, Canseco attributed the lower ratings for senior levels of government somewhat to the fact they weren’t as visible as municipal officials such as Nenshi.
The poll was conducted online between July 9 and 15, among 974 panellists for Insights West who live in Alberta. Pollsters have estimated the margin of error as the same for a random sample of a similar size: plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.