Homelessness, shelters and crime top of mind for Saskatoon voters, new poll shows

Meet Saskatoon mayoral candidate Gordon Wyant WATCH: After serving as a 14-year MLA and a 12-year cabinet minister, Gord Wyant is back in Saskatoon running for mayor.

Social issues are top of mind for Saskatoon residents as they prepare to head to the polls on Wednesday to choose their next mayor and councillors.

That’s according to exclusive survey data from Insightrix, produced in partnership with CTV News this month.

When asked to select which three issues have the most impact on their vote, nearly half of respondents chose homelessness and shelters, at 47 per cent.

Thirty-eight per cent of respondents told Insightrix crime in Saskatoon would impact who’s name they decide to mark their X beside on Nov. 13.

Although technically a provincial responsibility, the surge in homelessness in the city has been a reliable source of contention, as councillors and city administrators attempt to find locations for temporary shelters to keep people safe and alive, especially over the winter.

The city’s largest shelter, the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s wellness centre located in the Fairhaven neighbourhood, has drawn the ire of a vocal contingent who claim the opening of the facility brought crime to the neighbourhood.

Police statistics negated their claims, but neighbourhood residents opposed to the shelter were unmoved, and promoted campaigns to prevent another smaller shelter from opening in the Sutherland neighbourhood last year.

The most recent proposed site, the former Saskatchewan Transit Company parcel depot downtown, has met similar concerns from nearby businesses, who fear shelter residents will contribute to higher neighbourhood crime rates.

Mental health and addictions, and affordable housing were the next two most picked social issues on the minds of voters, at 25 and 24 per cent, respectively.

According to Lang McGilp, Insightrix research director, even though some of those social issues are not civic jurisdiction, they’re “something that matters to people.”

“When you get to municipal politics, it's the closest to our home, right? So there's a lot of things that come into play,” he said.

McGilp also says the way Insightrix posed the question also effected the types of choices.

“We said, you know, ‘what are the top three things?’ And you can only pick three. It doesn’t mean a bunch of these other things aren’t important as well.”

The question was designed to tease out people’s priorities, he said.

“So, I guess what it means to me is that speaking to those issues is going to be an important thing for candidates to do.”

Respondents in Saskatoon expressed the least concern with city services. Only 14 per cent said improving city services would impact their vote, and 11 per cent cited infrastructure and roads as a concern.

Just nine per cent said transit would impact their vote.

‘Back to basics’

By comparison, Insightrix reports that Regina residents on its panel were more preoccupied with city management issues like property tax and fiscal management, with 42 per cent and 40 per cent choosing those among their top three issues.

Addressing issues with REAL came in at a distant third among management issues, with 16 per cent including it in their top three.

Just over one quarter of respondents in Regina said the maintenance of roads and infrastructure would impact their choice at the polls. Sixteen per cent said they’re looking for a candidate to improve city services.

“It looks like in Regina it is more of that ‘back to basics,’ in terms of looking at the taxes and what’s kind of going on with the city and how it’s being managed,” McGilp told CTV News.

“Like even infrastructure is coming out a little bit higher there, right? So, it’s 26 per cent versus 11 [in Saskatoon].”

Management issues did make the list for a fair proportion of Saskatoon voters, with 27 per cent picking property taxes in their top three issues, 23 per cent concerned with fiscal management, and 20 per cent who picked the proposed downtown arena.

Social issues also figured prominently in the survey of Regina residents, though in moderate numbers relative to Saskatoon voters.

Thirty-two per cent in Regina said crime in the city would impact their vote, 22 per cent were concerned with affordable housing, and 20 per cent picked homelessness and shelters in their top three issues.

Methodology

The survey of 400 adult Saskatoon residents was run between Nov. 1 to 3 with a sample sourced from the Insightrix SaskWatch research panel, an online survey group.

Since the panel participants self-select, it’s considered a non-probability proportion sample, but Insightrix estimates a margin of error of plus or minus five per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The data is weighted for education and income to match the 2021 Canadian Census.