Six in Ten (62%) Approve of Toronto Mayor
Ford's Performance, Down 8 Points Overall,
Proportion Who Strongly Approves Down 16 Points

Toronto, ON - Six in ten (62%) Torontonians `approve' (15% strongly/46% somewhat) of the performance of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, down 8 points since April, according to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted exclusively for Global Television. In fact, the proportion of Torontonians who `strongly approve' with his performance has plummeted 16 points to just 15%. Conversely, four in ten (38%) Torontonians `disapprove' (20% strongly/18% somewhat) of his performance as mayor. So while a majority supports his performance, overall, more `strongly disapprove' (20%) than `strongly approve' (15%).

Perhaps not living up to everyone's expectations, nearly half (46%) of Torontonians `agree' (23% strongly/23% somewhat) that `As Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford has been a big disappointment'. A slim majority (54%) `disagrees' (20% strongly/34% somewhat) that he's been a big disappointment. Further, half (49%) `agree' (22% strongly/27% somewhat) that he's `not doing the right things for the future of our city', while the other half (51%) `disagrees' (16% strongly/36% somewhat) that this is the case.

With City Hall facing a significant budget shortfall, Mayor Ford has vowed to "stop the gravy train" at City Hall, but Torontonians are split on whether the process is heading in the right track (56%) or the wrong direction (44%).

One in ten (13%) believe that the `budget deficit is rising in Toronto because not enough taxes are being collected to maintain the quality of life the city must offer its citizens - so taxes should be raised to close the gap, not deep cuts to employees, services and programs'. Nearly twice as many Torontonians (24%), however, more closely believe that the `deficit is rising in Toronto because there are too many employees, too much waste, and wrongheaded spending of taxpayer money at city hall - so taxes should not be raised to close the gap, and instead there should be deep cuts to employees, services and programs'.

But a strongly majority (64%) more closely believe that `the deficit is rising for lots of reasons, and that we shouldn't do anything too drastic to get things under control, so let's find middle ground to cut some things - including city hall staff - contract out more to the private sector but raise taxes to keep other things and close the deficit gap'.

Recently, a major consulting firm was hired by the city to go through all of the departments and agencies and come up with some recommendations to help eliminate the deficit. Below are some of those recommendations, and the proportion of Torontonians who think each represents a good idea or bad idea:

Police

• Transfer some towing, parking and bylaw enforcement duties to other duties (84% good idea, 16% bad idea)
• Remove a rule requiring officers in construction zones at $65 an hour (83% good idea, 17% bad idea)
• Reduce the police force with a hiring freeze or early retirement incentives (45% good idea, 55% bad idea)
• Consider one-officer cars in place of the current partner system (33% good idea, 67% bad idea)
• Scrap the crossing guard program (28% good idea, 72% bad idea)

Library

• Trim library outreach and programming (42% good idea, 58% bad idea)
• Close some of Toronto's 99 libraries (36% good idea, 64% bad idea)

TTC

• Contract out some TTC services like cleaning and maintenance (75% good idea, 25% bad idea)
• Transfer Wheel-Trans users to TTC (35% good idea, 65% bad idea)
• Cut late-night busses (19% good idea, 81% bad idea)

Zoo

• Negotiate operating partnerships of the zoo with other levels of government (80% good idea, 20% bad idea)
• Sell off the metro zoo to private interests or transfer ownership to a community non-profit group (53% good idea, 47% bad idea)

Various

• Explore merging Exhibition Place with Ontario Place (91% good idea, 9% bad idea)
• Look at selling off one or more theatres currently under city ownership or amalgamation (78% good idea, 22% bad idea)
• Sell off city interest in the Exhibition place grounds (52% good idea, 48% bad idea)
• Examine divesting Heritage Toronto to a third party (51% good idea, 49% bad idea)
• Consider selling Toronto parking lots (46% good idea, 54% bad idea)
• Shut down the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (43% good idea, 57% bad idea)
• Eliminate a program that funds AIDS prevention, student nutrition programs and drug prevention projects (22% good idea, 78% bad idea)

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted between August 26 and September 1, 2011, on behalf Global Television. For this survey, a sample of 414 Torontonians from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 4.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in Toronto been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker
CEO
Ipsos Public Affairs
(416) 324-2001
[email protected]

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