Poll headline misleading

I have no idea why the Province of Nova Scotia decided to include the St Peter’s-Sydney leg in their studies regarding twinned highways. It is not feasible. It’s presence in the study only serves to distract people from the real sections that should be twinned.

The sections that need to be twinned for the benefit of Cape Bretoners include the leg through New Glasgow-Antigonish, and, perhaps, Antigonish-Auld’s Cove.

Yet, that apparently did not register with whomever created the survey (‘Cape Bretoners not in favour of toll highway,’ www.cbpost.com) on your website. I can’t remember the last two-vehicle accident with a fatality on Route 4 (St Peter’s-Sydney). On the other hand, we have several fatalities per year on the leg through Barney’s River.

If you read the article it says 52 per cent of the 329 votes cast said no to paying a toll for a highway in Cape Breton. That translates to 171 people saying they do not want to pay tolls, for a highway in Cape Breton. But then you headline the article ‘Cape Bretoners not in favour of toll highway.’ Is 171 people a consensus?

Headlines like this cause people to glance and think: “Oh, I guess no one wants this.” When, in fact, the title is completely misleading. It would make no sense for the Cape Breton Post to have an agenda as to whether or not the road should be twinned but you’re doing a good job of appearing that way.

People don’t teleport to Cape Breton Island. Maybe you should try to find out whether the public wants a higher quality road to drive on whenever they make trips to Halifax (and the rest of North America) or have relatives and tourists visit Cape Breton.

Maybe ask the public their opinions on the decrepit railway system across Cape Breton and how they plan to deal with an extreme increase in transport truck traffic on their roads whenever the piein-the-sky Novaporte opens. Will Hall CBRM