Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:05:0
AHN Staff
Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) - Gridlock and mass transport are among the major concerns of Canadians living in urban areas. Among 2,000 urban residents surveyed by Angus Reid, almost half pointed to traffic and public transit as the major infrastructure challenges that would determine if their cities would still be livable in the years to come.
The survey, released Tuesday, comes on the heels of a study made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that because of traffic, Toronto loses $3.3 billion yearly in productivity.
Among the Canadians cities and the percentage of residents that have expressed concern over the traffic situation are: Calgary with 70 percent, Vancouver 69 percent, Toronto 60 percent and Montreal 53 percent.
However, not all city services were rated by Canadians as cause for alarm. About 66 percent of the respondents considered police, fire and ambulance services as excellent or good, 62 percent gave a passing mark to their municipal water, sewage and electrical services and 59 percent approved their local education systems.
Another Angus Reid poll released Wednesday said only 36 percent of Canadians are happy with the H1N1 preparedness of their provinces. Similarly, only 32 percent expressed satisfaction with the swine flu preparedness of the federal government.
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