THUNDER BAY – Mike Yuan wants to know exactly what people of the city think about paying for a new event centre.
Yuan, a Lakehead University professor, and his fourth-year Tourism and Recreation Economics class are conducting a survey asking residents their thoughts about the proposed $114 million project and how it should be paid for.
He has questions about the Ipsos Reid poll conducted last year on behalf of the city that found the majority of respondents were in favour of the project, even if it meant a tax increase.
“We feel that many of the results that came out of there were frankly not substantiated. Some of the taxation responses they have perhaps have changed substantially given the recent discussions at council about tax levies, surcharges and fee increases,” he said from his office on Monday.
“We feel the residents probably have a different opinion than what they provided last spring.”
Yuan singled out the question asking respondents if they would be in favour of the project if it would result in a 1.0 to 1.5 per cent increase to their tax bill.
He said the Lakehead survey will incorporate multiple elements of the city’s current tax situation to properly frame the question.
With city council to review a report on March 23 detailing funding contributions from senior levels of government, these are appropriate questions.
“We haven’t really talked about who is going to pay for it,” he said. “The aspect of how people are going to pay for it, the funding, the taxation and the cost structure is something we think is an important topic to engage the public.”
This is the second straight year students in Yuan’s class have conducted a survey. Last year residents were polled on whether they were in favour of an event centre, with nearly 80 per cent of respondents saying yes.
Thomas Bentley, a student in the class, said they will use two different approaches to gather information for the study, which will take place over the next three weeks. Students will conduct interviews with about 375 people around the city, as well as offer an open online survey.
“What we’re hoping to do is get a complete portion of the population,” he said. “What we’re doing is going to different areas around the community and handing out the surveys through a (tablet) to allow them to fill it out.”
In addition to taxation and costs, this year’s survey will also include questions asking at what expense residents would be prepared to support the question. Yuan said people will be asked if they support the project at full cost, $75 million or $50 million.
Yuan found with last year’s group this was one of the most rewarding projects.
“When you look at higher education, especially fourth-year courses, it’s trying to take a lot of this theory and information and trying to put it into some sort of applied situation that has meaning,” he said.
“We feel this probably has more meaning than just about anything students are working on because it’s going to affect not just them but the citizens of Thunder Bay for years to come.”
