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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Winnipeggers' hate-on for city services polled
Basking in the glow of the NHL's return, rising property values and some of the most pleasant weather in recent memory, Winnipeggers seem to be a contented bunch.
But when it comes to being happy with the services the city delivers, we're among the crabbiest people in the nation, according to a poll of residents of Canada's 30 largest cities, conducted in May by Toronto-based Forum Research.
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Winnipeg ranked third-worst when it came to citizen satisfaction with municipal services, according to the telephone poll of 12,319 randomly selected Canadians, conducted from May 16 to 27.
Only 15 per cent of Winnipeggers declared themselves "very satisfied" with city services, compared to a national average of 25 per cent and the nation-leading 52 per cent of Quebec City residents, the poll suggested.
Only Sudbury, Ont. (six per cent) and Halifax (13 per cent) fared worse than the Manitoba capital in the poll, whose results were distributed free to media outlets as part of a Forum Research effort to advertise its services.
While the overall poll had a margin of error of 0.9 per cent, the smaller Winnipeg subsample - 424 respondents - created a margin of error of 4.9 per cent. The results were weighted to reflect national age and gender averages, and the entire poll is considered reliable 19 times out of 20.
The Winnipeg error margin remains small enough to paint a negative picture of customer satisfaction with city services. Winnipeg ranked dead last when it came to satisfaction with policing, second-last in satisfaction with parks, community centres and garbage collection, and third-last in satisfaction with road maintenance.
On the bright side, Winnipeg was able to beat the national average in satisfaction with snow-plowing and property taxes, albeit slightly and within the statistical margin of error.
City vs national satisfaction
HERE'S how the "very satisfied" numbers broke down for selected Winnipeg services:
Overall satisfaction with all city services: 15 per cent National average: 25 per cent
Policing: 27 per cent National average: 40 per cent
Garbage collection: 37 per cent National average: 46 per cent
Road maintenance: Six per cent National Average: 15 per cent
Community centres: 17 per cent National average: 34 per cent
Parks: 26 per cent National average: 40 per cent
Snow plowing: 30 per cent National average: 28 per cent
Property taxes: 10 per cent National average: Nine per cent
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 7, 2012 B3
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Updated on Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 12:08 PM CDT: updates with minor fix.
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