Drugs, gun use top crime concerns in 4 major cities across Canada: CityNews poll

One in five people on average believe crime and policing are top issues facing their city in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted by Maru Public Opinion for CityNews, found that drugs were the top crime concern in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver with gang violence close behind.

Cities across the country have been plagued by the opioid crisis. In B.C., between January and July, 1,365 lives were lost to unregulated drug toxicity.

And in Alberta, 2023 broke a record for the most substance abuse deaths recorded with over 2,000 people killed. Calgary saw 660 deaths by drug substances, while Edmonton had 743 residents killed by substances.

In Toronto, the top concern was gun crime followed by vehicle thefts.

There has been a stark increase in gun crime this year in Toronto with an increase of 46 per cent in incidents year-to-date over 2023 and a 66 per cent increase in deaths.

When it comes to how the city’s police chiefs are performing, the majority said they believed their chief was doing a good job. Calgary’s police chief Mark Neufeld had the top score with 72 per cent believe he was performing well.

Neufeld was followed close behind by Dale McFee in Edmonton at 70 per cent while Vancouver’s police chief scored 65 per cent.

Toronto’s police chief Myron Demkiw sat last with 60 per cent believing he was doing a good job.

Policing budgets are usually the top spender of municipalities and when asked whether the budgets should change, a four-city average found just over 50 per cent believe the budget should be held at the same level but they should be more efficient and less wasteful.

In Edmonton, however, the number of respondents who believe the budget should stay the same was just one per cent more than those who believed the budget should be increased because they are under-resourced to be effective in the community.

When it came to whether residents felt safe walking around their own neighbourhood in the dark, a majority agreed that they did with those polled in Calgary feeling the most safe at 68 per cent, followed by Vancouver at 67 per cent and Toronto at 65 per cent.

Edmonton felt the least safe with 57 per cent feeling safe walking around in the dark.

Those polled in Edmonton also were the most afraid, at 75 per cent, of being a victim of violence on public transit. In Calgary, 68 per cent were fearful of violence on public transit with Toronto right behind at 64 per cent. Vancouverites felt 58 per cent afraid of being a victim of violence on public transit.

The vast majority felt worry over response from local police, with an average of 74 per cent of those polled, felt the response time will be too slow.

In Toronto, where the issue of slow response times have been well-documented, 77 per cent agree they worry about the response time being too slow if they require their local police with Edmonton right behind at 76 per cent. Vancouver and Calgary weren’t far behind with 73 per cent and 69 per cent respectively.

When it comes to bail reform, the vast majority, above 85 per cent, across all cities felt there are too many repeating violent offenders being offered bail.

A bill was introduced last year by the federal government for bail reform that expanded the use of reverse-onus provisions for certain offenders.

The poll was conducted between August 29-September 6, 2024, among a random selection of 1,801 Canadian adults who are Unlock Surveys online panelists. Respondents were surveyed within the specific cities of Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Probability samples of this size have an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.