The Mississauga Muse
Active Member
Related item although from The-Far-Superior-to-Toronto-Municipality of Mississauga. This one:
"The key FOCUS ONTARIO findings are:
* 87 per cent of Mississauga residents are very or somewhat satisfied with their municipal government".
Then a couple paragraphs down, the PR drops down a McCallion quote:
'"It's clear that Mississauga residents expect a lot from their City and are very satisfied with the way we operate here,' noted Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion."
Long before press release came out, I was wise to the Corporate Spin Department. So I dropped down a Freedom of Information on that 87% satisfaction rate that McCallion et al trumpet about at every opportunity.
Had to fight to finally get them to release that particular question, but...
Yes, 87% are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied.
But the press release leaving McCallion's comment, "'It's clear that Mississauga residents....are very satisfied with the way we operate here." does a neat flush of "somewhat satisfied".
The reality is that 43% of Mississauga residents are "very satisfied". And when you inspect the demographic breakdown there's a worrisome group that aren't. Like significantly aren't.
None of that gets mentioned. I followed up and emailed the person at Mississauga responsible for that survey. I question the methodology --by telephone it immediately disqualifies non-English/poor English speakers.
The page I received (and so would Council who plan on the results of this survey) would not have been given the results of the other municipalities or regions. I asked and no, they don't.
How can you not request the results of others in the GTA? Or Toronto's for that matter? I was just astounted. Like this'd be minimal expectation for me if I were a planner or in Community Services. Especially in light of one group that's clearly out of satisfaction-sync with the rest of Mississauga.
Here's something of interest to me. From what I read here, Toronto has higher level of services than Mississauga, correct? And lower taxes, right? Have been the beneficiary of Peel moneys, right?
I want to see if that translates into Toronto satisfaction in their Environics results.
Some of you might try to FOI that question for your municipality. Why? On page two you see the breakdown for "Provincial Support" and "Federal Support" as of November 2006.
And above all, you can compare your municipality's Environics press release to the reality of the actual print-out.
Clearly there are times when nobody knows at our city halls because nobody's even bothered to ask the question!
