Residents' trust in city, optimism have rebounded after turbulent 2024
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Calgarians' trust in city hall has gone up considerably since last year, according to the city's latest citizen satisfaction survey.
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The city released its annual spring survey results Thursday, showing an upward trend in Calgarians' quality of life, their optimism about the future and their satisfaction with municipal services.
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The yearly count was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs from Feb. 27 to March 24, polling 2,500 Calgarians via telephone.
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At a news conference to present the results, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said a promising finding was a rebound in public trust in the city, which went up 14 points from a record low of 38 per cent a year ago to 52 per cent now.
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After a turbulent 2024 that saw Calgarians weather a summerlong water crisis following the rupture of the Bearspaw south feeder main, as well as other challenges, Gondek said the city's latest poll results are mostly encouraging.
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'In a year of uncertainty with a ruptured water feeder main, unaffordable housing, inflation and global instability, that rise in trust says something powerful,' she said. 'It tells me that Calgarians believed that we had a plan, it tells me that leadership matters, and it tells me that people have seen the results.'
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Other areas of improvement over last year's spring and fall polls include respondents' perception of their quality of life. According to the survey, 74 per cent of Calgarians rated their quality of life as 'good,' compared to 71 per cent last spring and 66 per cent last fall.
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Relatedly, 72 per cent of Calgarians said the city is a great place to make a life, which is up three points from the spring of 2024.
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Asked about public safety, 70 per cent of respondents believed the city is doing a 'good job' of addressing safety-related issues in Calgary.
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The survey found that 61 per cent of respondents rate Calgary's economy as good – an 11-point uptick from last fall – while satisfaction with how the city is being run rose to 63 per cent, up from 59 per cent last spring and 53 per cent last fall.
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'With so many national and international concerns facing Calgarians, it's encouraging to see key indicators about local government improve,' said the city's chief administrative officer, David Duckworth, in a statement. 'The results indicate that the city is aligned and accountable to Calgarians on many of our priorities and investments. We will continue to listen and deliver the things that are important to the people in our city.'
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