This summer I conducted an extensive household survey in the Calgary Confederation riding through a mail-in survey sent to every household in early July.
I want to thank all those who participated for providing me with your input and comments. The thousands of responses have produced some very interesting results. (The full results are available at www.lenwebber.ca.)
The top five issues that people want Parliament to focus on more are (in order), cutting the deficit; getting pipelines built; illegal border crossings; cutting personal taxes and unemployment.
Other issues that rank fairly high are crime & justice; transit, roads & infrastructure; reducing child poverty; spending on seniors and spending on healthcare.
The top five issues that people want Parliament to focus on less are (in order) marijuana legalization; increasing immigration; indigenous peoples; increasing gun control and climate change.
Other issues that people selected quite often included drug decriminalization and foreign aid spending. All other issues fell far behind the seven mentioned above.
I must admit that I was a little surprised that cutting the deficit was ranked higher than getting pipelines built, as government deficit spending gets far less media attention. That said, I was pleased that so many people understand that the current government’s out-of-control spending will have consequences later and know the problem must not be ignored.
Your input is very helpful to me and my colleagues as we enter the Fall session of Parliament. While no government can be all things to all people, I will be doing my best to ensure that Parliament focuses on the priorities of my constituents.
