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Crime is top issue for Winnipeggers: poll

People in other cities not as concerned

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 11/3/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Winnipeggers are more concerned about crime than are residents of other larger Canadian cities.

A new survey by Probe Research Inc. found 43 per cent of Winnipeggers believe crime, violence and gangs are the most important public concerns facing the city.

What was asked

THE Probe Research Inc. poll was conducted by telephone between Sept. 13-27 among 600 Winnipeg adults. It is considered accurate to within four percentage points.

Respondents were asked: "I would like you to tell me what you consider to be the most important issue or concern facing your community today. And what other issues or concerns do you think are important for your community today?"

The Ipsos/Reid survey was conducted by telephone between Aug. 14-18 of 4,393 adults. The margin of error for each city is 4.7 percentage points.

The level of the public's concern reflects Winnipeg's high crime rate, a Probe spokesman said Monday.

"Winnipeg has a higher crime rate compared to other Canadian cities and this gets a lot of media attention," said Curtis Brown, a research associate with Probe.

Brown said Statistics Canada recently found Winnipeg has the highest homicide rate among the country's major urban centres, once again earning the title of Murder Capital of Canada.

Brown said a similar survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid/Global TV of other Canadian cities, found crime isn't as a high a priority for the citizens of those communities as it is for Winnipeggers.

The Probe Research found that 43 per cent of Winnipeggers cited crime as the most important issue, a far higher percentage than residents of Saskatoon (30 per cent), Edmonton (27 per cent), Regina (25 per cent), Halifax (23 per cent), Toronto (21 per cent), Calgary (14 per cent), Montreal (13 per cent) and Vancouver (10 per cent).

The Probe survey found Winnipeggers' concern for infrastructure dropped off dramatically. It was ranked the top issue by 20 per cent of residents in June but fell to just four per cent in the September survey. Conversely, in June crime was cited by 28 per cent of respondents as the most pressing issue.

Probe found that no other issue grabbed Winnipeggers's attention as much as crime: Health care was cited by nine per cent of respondents, the economy and environment by six per cent, poverty/homelessness by five per cent, and infrastructure by four per cent.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 3, 2009 B3

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