The reign of BC’s current NDP government so far has divided residents’ opinions on where the future of the province is headed.
According to a study conducted by Angus Reid Institute, while most people approve of Premier John Horgan’s measures to improve housing affordability, others disagree with his approach to the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain Pipeline project and the resulting battle with Alberta.
Overall, though, it looks like more British Columbians think we’re on the wrong track than the right one.
Housing affordability
The study tested residents’ approval of several different measures taken by the NDP government, like:
- increasing the foreign buyers’ tax by 5%
- introducing a new speculation tax for foreign and domestic property owners
- increasing property tax with the revenue going toward schools
- increasing the property transfer tax
And it looks like the majority of people who were polled approved of the government’s actions.
Kinder Morgan Pipeline
Despite heavy campaigning by the provincial government and various activism groups, it looks like the majority of people in British Columbia do support the construction the KM Trans-Mountain pipeline.
“Last month, seven-in-ten B.C. residents (69%) said the province should ‘give in and allow the pipeline to be built’ if the courts rule against it,” reads the report.
The outcome of the poll does have differences based on what part of the province it was conducted in.
Leadership of government officials
Finally, residents were also polled on whether or not they approve of the leadership shown by the leaders of each political party in BC overall.
Although most British Columbians approved of Horgan at the start of his Premier-ship, his approval rating has now gone down to 47%.
What do you think of our province’s leaders after one year of NDP rule?