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December 2007
84% of Canadians support cities getting a portion of the GST
A national poll conducted by Environics Research Group last fall showed that 84% of Canadians support the federal government transferring a portion of the GST to cities.As part of the study, 2,047 Canadians were asked to indicate their support or opposition to four approaches for increasing municipal revenues.
The question:
Over the past few years, a number of municipal leaders across the country have complained that the revenues available to their cities are not sufficient to fund the program and infrastructure expenditures facing them. Several solutions to this have been proposed. Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose each of the following approaches to increasing the funds available to municipalities?
- A commitment from the federal government to transfer an amount of the GST revenue it currently receives to Canadian municipalities.
- Lifting current provincial legislation that prevents municipal governments from financing their program spending through deficits.
- Giving municipal governments greater discretion to levy user fees for using municipal public services and infrastructure.
- Arrangements under which provincial governments provide long-term funding guarantees to their municipalities which would enable them to borrow to make immediate investments in infrastructure.
The answer:
Of the 2,047 respondents, 633 were from Ontario and 294 from Toronto (Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)). The following chart reflects the answers provided, by region, in response to option 1.
|
Region |
Number of respondents |
Strongly support (%) |
Somewhat support (%) |
Somewhat oppose (%) |
Strongly oppose (%) |
|
Canada |
2,047 |
41 |
43 |
8 |
5 |
|
Ontario |
633 |
46 |
38 |
8 |
5 |
|
Toronto (CMA) |
294 |
54 |
31 |
10 |
4 |
* Source: Environics Research Group Limited’s 2007-3 edition of the FOCUS CANADA Report. The report is based on a national survey of public attitudes toward the government and issues of concern, conducted between September 17 and October 14, 2007. More information: www.environics.ca.
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