Overspending and taxes, not new arena, top voter concerns, poll says

A new poll released just two weeks before the municipal election suggests overspending and taxes at city hall are the primary concerns for voters.

And while talks over a new home for the Calgary Flames has dominated headlines and thrust drama into the election campaign, the arena debate barely registers as a major issue for residents, according to the poll by Edmonton-based Trend Research.

The Calgary Chamber, which commissioned the poll, will use the results to drive home its calls for reduced spending and a fairer property tax regime for businesses when it holds a mayoral debate Monday night.

“When city spending increases, according to the way the city has been budgeting, business pays most of the burden,” said Scott Crockatt of the Calgary Chamber.

The survey found that a majority of those polled, 55 per cent, said they believe city hall is spending too much, while 30 per cent said the municipal government is doing a good job with expenses.

Eleven per cent said the city isn’t spending enough, while the rest didn’t know.

When asked to rank the single largest issue facing Calgary, taxes and money management took the top spot, with 31 per cent of those polled listing these concerns.

The economy and jobs came in a close second, with 23 per cent citing these issues, while a new Flames arena was listed by just eight per cent of respondents.

The arena debate has been a dominant story so far in the campaign, after the Flames’ ownership group publicly walked away from the negotiating table.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also launched an offensive against Naheed Nenshi, claiming the incumbent mayor suggested during a March meeting he doesn’t believe the Flames are important for Calgary, though Nenshi offered a different version of the conversation, according to media reports.

Despite the rhetoric, the Trend Research poll suggests the arena isn’t nearly as important to voters as spending and taxes.

During the sold-out mayoral debate at the Palace Theatre, the Calgary Chamber will attempt to seek commitments from the candidates to control spending growth, introduce fairer property taxes for businesses and adopt a business-friendly attitude.

“You can look at examples, like how long it took us to get ridesharing in Calgary, or the ongoing challenges we’ve had with still not really having a secondary-suites bylaw,” Crockatt said.

“We’re not particularly fastmoving in terms of our regulation and keeping up with the pace of innovation.

“I think we can do better than that.”

The Trend Research poll was conducted by telephone from Sept. 19 to 25 as part of the firm’s monthly omnibus survey of 900 residents. The Calgary Chamber’s

When city spending increases, according to the way the city has been budgeting, business pays most of the burden. SCOT T C ROCKATT

questions were posed to a subsample of 300 respondents.

The Calgary results are considered accurate within 5.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.