Credit: BC Hydro The Site C dam project near Fort St. John

Top issues are housing and health care

During the provincial election campaign last spring, then-candidate John Horgan promised to send the Site C dam project for review and hold a referendum on changing the first-past-the-post election system. Once Horgan became premier, he carried through on the first pledge and approved Site C’s completion, but he hasn’t got to the second.

A recent Angus Reid poll asked 691 residents what they thought about these issues and more. Just over half (52 percent) of respondents approved of the decision to proceed with Site C, versus 26 percent who disagreed—similar results to a poll conducted for BCBusiness last summer. Support for changing the election process to proportional representation, however, has dropped from 65 percent in September to 57 percent now.

As for priorities in 2018, housing (20 percent) topped the list, followed by health care (18 percent); the economy (10 percent); homelessness and the environment (7 percent each); tax relief and poverty (6 percent each); leadership (5 percent); and drug traffic/use (4 percent).