Group irked by convention centre opinion poll
Posted Sep 13, 2011 05:26:04 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Even more money is being spent on the multi-million dollar World Trade and Convention Centre proposed for downtown Halifax and this time it’s on an opinion poll.
At least one member of the Save the View conservation group was randomly selected to participate in the survey on Friday and asked questions which have now raised more questions of their own.
“Do you trust Joe Ramia? Do you trust Premeir Darrell Dexter, Mayor Peter Kelly, Minister Bill Estabrooks, Minister Percy Paris, and so on,” quoted Allan Robertson from the notes his fellow STV member took during the survey.
“I suspect that governments are getting a little uncomfortable that so many citizens are against the project that somebody has commissioned a poll to see if they can come up with numbers that aren’t quite as bad,” Robertson told the Rick Howe Show, Monday.
Crown corporation Trade Centre Ltd. commissioned a $20,000 opinion poll from Toronto’s Foundation Research Group.
TCL told the Chronicle Herald 800 people provincewide were surveyed in an effort to help the company understand where people receive their information, how they form their opinions and who they want to heard from in regards to the project.
But as Robertson points out, TCL is an arm of the government and so taxpayer dollars were likely used to pay for the study.
“If it’s public money used to create a poll to support the proposed convention centre, then that’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong,” he said.
Three levels of government have agreed to fund the proposed $500-million project. It’s expected to encompass a hotel as well as office, residential and retail space.
However the contract deadline lapsed earlier this year and the developer, Ramia, is expected to return to government with updated figures.
