Traffic congestion has been synonymous with Toronto, and new exclusive polling reveals that about a quarter of residents identify it as the biggest problem that is affecting their quality of life in the city. A new Nanos Research survey conducted exclusively on behalf of CP24 and CTV News Toronto ahead of the municipal election looked into the issues that are on top of voters’ minds. Nanos Research surveyed 755 randomly selected Toronto residents from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 and found that 26 per cent of respondents identified traffic as the “single biggest problem” impacting their quality of life. After traffic, housing costs (18 per cent), public safety/crime (16 per cent), property taxes (12 per cent) and the cost of groceries (9 per cent) were the other top problems that Toronto voters said were hurting their quality of life. In a statement, Nanos Research Chief Data Scientist Nik Nanos said that while “Toronto’s mayoral race is unfolding against a backdrop of mounting affordability pressures,” traffic tops the quality of life concerns of residents. Traffic was the top issue across almost all age and gender demographics. For Gen Z and younger millennial voters, a third of them (31 per cent) said the cost of housing is their top quality of life concern. “You look at these issues and if you take a high-level view, young people are just getting crushed,” Nanos told CP24 on Thursday morning. He noted that both housing affordability and traffic are major concerns among Torontonians. “How are we supposed to attract investment into Toronto and jobs into Toronto if the number one thing that everybody knows about Toronto is that traffic is brutal,” he added. During a debate on Wednesday hosted by the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization, Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford were asked about how they plan to address the city’s traffic woes. Chow, pointing out her promise to cap TTC fares, said improving public transit will lead to fewer cars on the road. She added that implementing the traffic learnings during FIFA, especially using smart signals, will get people moving. Chow also said that creating local jobs and building housing around them will also ease congestion. “So that you can live not so far away from your job, because that is critical, so you don’t have to spend so much time commuting,” she said. For his part, Bradford brought up the city’s decision to shut down the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway on Mother’s Day weekend, when numerous events were being held, and said he would not plan such disruptive closures if elected mayor. “Don’t tell me that you value people’s time and you want to get this city moving. You’ve had three years on the job, Madam Mayor, and you have not got the job,” he said. Earlier that day, Bradford vowed to remove 12 kilometres of Scarborough bus lanes in an effort to address gridlock. Former Toronto mayor and CTV News municipal affairs expert John Tory said earlier this week that traffic is an issue that’s not easy to tackle. “It’s a very, very hard issue to try and deal with unless you’re prepared to be really tough on things like saying no construction during the day, no deliveries during the day. You’re reluctant to do that because the city has to kind of keep functioning,” Tory said. Divide on property taxes On the issue of affordability, voters want the next mayor to prioritize housing costs (31 per cent) and property taxes (27 per cent), the survey finds. There seems to be a divide between voters downtown and the suburbs when it comes to property taxes. The survey found that more than half of Scarborough residents (57 per cent) want to keep property tax increases low even if it means fewer services. At the same time, more than half of voters in downtown Toronto and East York (54.2 per cent) say the city should raise taxes if it means maintaining or improving services. In North York, more voters support keeping tax increases low (47 per cent) than having another hike (34.2 per cent). For Etobicoke and York residents, 43.7 per cent are for low property tax increases, while 40.2 per cent voters back raising taxes. More women voters (43.8 per cent) also voice support for raising taxes rather than keeping them low (41 per cent) as long as services are improved or maintained. Chow has promised to keep property taxes “at or around” the inflation rate, while Bradford pledged to freeze property taxes for the first year and keep any increases below inflation in the following three years. Is Toronto less affordable? Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of Toronto voters feel that the city has become less affordable compared to four years ago. The survey finds 22 percent believe it is about the same, while only three per cent say Toronto has become more affordable. According to the survey, 52 per cent of voters have reduced nonessential spending in the past year amid rising living costs, while 32 per cent have delayed a major purchase. Twenty-two per cent say they have considered moving out of the city. After Chris Alexander dropped out on Monday, the Toronto mayoral election is now a two-way race between Chow and Bradford. A separate Nanos poll released earlier this week found that Chow has a nearly 10-point lead over Brad Bradford among decided voters with less than three weeks before election day. About 22 per cent of the respondents to that poll remained undecided. Toronto residents will head to the polls on Oct. 26 but can cast their ballots with advance voting now open until Oct. 11. Methodology The Nanos Research survey was conducted exclusively for CP24 and CTV News Toronto between Sept. 30 and Oct. 4. The survey included 755 Toronto residents randomly selected. Interviews were completed online and by telephone. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
