Majority of Manitobans feeling less safe: poll

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This article was published 17/07/2023 (844 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than half of Manitobans view their respective communities as being less safe than they were in the recent past, new poll results suggest.

The survey, conducted by Probe Research on behalf of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, found a total of 56 per cent of respondents said they felt less safe compared to three years ago; 39 per cent said they perceived no change in safety; five per cent said they feel more safe.

Kathy Valentino, an AMM vice-president, said the results are concerning.

Public safety is among the major issues the association’s 137-member municipalities are most concerned about ahead of the fall provincial election, she said Monday.

“Finding that five per cent of Manitobans feel more safe than they did three years ago, that’s really quite something,” Valentino said. “This just shows that residents and municipal officials are on the same page: this is an issue for all Manitobans, feeling less safe at home.”

It is hoped whichever political party takes power in the October election will sit down with the AMM to discuss ways to improve public safety, via policing, social services and other programs, Valentino said.

“Public safety is a lot of different provincial departments, it deals with municipal relations and health — there’s lot.”

Monday’s announcement by Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen, which earmarked an additional $13.7 million in funding for municipal policing, is a positive step, she added.

The total provincial spend on municipal policing is now $55.8 million annually.

The new money will go into the justice department’s public safety funding basket and urban policing grants.

“Obviously, when there’s an increase, we think that’s great, but there’s work to be done still,” Valentino said. “That’s why AMM is taking a stand and running our own campaign leading up to this election.”

The research firm polled 1,000 adult residents between May 31 and June 13 — 600 in Winnipeg and 400 in rural or northern Manitoba — using human phone operators and automated phone calls.

Women were more likely than men to tell the pollsters they feel less safe, at 62 per cent compared to 50 per cent.

Winnipeggers and people from southern communities were more likely than rural residents and northern Manitobans to perceive their safety as worse, at 60 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively, compared to 45 per cent in the North/rural.

Sixty-five per cent of Progressive Conservative supporters polled said they feel less safe today than in 2020, compared to 49 per cent of NDP supporters and 53 per cent of Liberal supporters.

The poll also surveyed respondents about cellphone coverage in emergency situations. The pollsters found only one-third of rural and northern Manitobans feel their cellphone is completely reliable.

Valentino said cellphone service and public safety go hand-in-hand.

“There’s no sense phoning 911 if you don’t have cell service — I live in the North, I know how drastically we need to increase cell service. It’s extremely unreliable,” said Valentino, adding such infrastructure should also be a priority for the provincial government.

Probe Research said the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, with a certainty of 95 per cent.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca