Public safety is top of mind for most voters heading to the polls in the upcoming civic election, according to the results of a survey conducted by The Tri-City News.
When asked to rank six issues in order of importance - public safety, environment, parks and recreation, transportation, property taxes and housing - 48% of respondents put public safety at the top of their list. The issue had an average ranking of 4.75 out of five.
The online survey, which is not scientific, was conducted over the last week by The Tri-City News to gauge what issues are important to residents ahead of the Nov. 15 civic election.
Transportation was second most important issue, with a 3.6 out of five ranking, while the environment was 3.54 and parks and recreation was 3.53. Property taxes had an average ranking of 3.41 and housing came in last with 2.18.
Of the 159 respondents who participated, 97.47% said they would be casting a ballot in the upcoming civic vote, well above the average 20% turnout Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody in the 2011 general election.
To gauge voter ideology, The Tri-City News asked which provincial political party the respondent supported. The BC NDP led the survey with 44.81%, followed by the BC Liberals with 33.77%, the BC Greens with 12.99% and the BC Conservatives with 8.44%.
The survey identified several issues that could be relevant in the upcoming election.
A majority of people (59.49%) said they believe that development around the Evergreen Line was moving in the right direction. Another 54.78% said they would like to see more tax money spent on buses and transit services.
But while respondents were supportive of investing more in transit infrastructure, Tri-City residents are still reliant on their automobile. The survey found that 77.85% of people do not use public transit regularly.
The respondents also indicated that they are generally happy to allow the city to raise taxes to pay for services. When asked whether they would prefer improved city services if it means higher taxes, 64.29% of respondents said yes. The other 35.71% said they would prefer to see city services reduced to allow taxes to be cut or maintained at current levels.
There were some issues where voters had divergent opinions from the politicians seeking office.
In a similar survey The Tri-City News conducted among council candidates, 84.78% said cities should spend more to improve cycling infrastructure. But residents who responded weren't so sure, with only 38.8% agreeing that more bike paths are needed.
Voters seem to be somewhat in agreement with politicians on the question of amalgamating the Tri-Cities. Of the candidates, a total of 45.65% said they were either in favour (6.52%) of amalgamation or believe the issues should be studied (39.13%).
That is fairly similar to the voter survey, which found that 22.64% said the three cities should become one while another 23.9% said the issue should be studied for a total of 46.54%.
The politicians also appear to be on the same page as voters on the issue of housing.
In the voter survey, 56.6% of respondents said the city has a responsibility to ensure the availability of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households.
Among the candidates, 86.96% answered in the affirmative to the same question.
