An Ontario political research company recently conducted a pre-election telephone poll in Squamish, but who commissioned the survey remains a mystery.
The survey, conducted by marketing research company Campaign Research, asked respondents to rate their approval of the current and former mayor and council candidates and several prominent development and natural resource projects in Squamish.
Campaign Research would not disclose who commissioned the poll. The company, or its founders, has previously worked on campaigns for Premier Christy Clark, Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Kellie Leitch, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and Vancouver's Non-Partisan Association.
Gord Addison, a Squamish resident with a background in polling and research, estimates the survey may have cost between $12,000 to $18,000. He says the poll was likely meant to measure the public's perception of a potential candidate.
"It's definitely a political survey that could help people find out how they feel on potential candidate and issues," he said. "It didn't sound like a deep, in-depth strategic survey, more like a horse race."
The Chief reached out to every current member of council, and every person named in the survey.
The following people were listed in the survey: Mayor Patricia Heintzman; Squamish Chamber of Commerce board members John French, Rob Weys and Bianca Peters; district councillors Susan Chapelle, Karen Elliott, Jason Blackman-Wulff, and Doug Race; former council candidates Paul Dosanjh; Squamish-born, former CFL offensive lineman Joe Eppele and Stephen Fryer, a former council candidate.
Every person contacted from the list and all sitting members of council, including Mayor Patricia Heintzman and mayoral candidate Coun. Susan Chapelle, denied any involvement.
Heintzman said the District has looked into telephone polls in the past, but it was too expensive.
"A telephone poll like that is likely quite expensive, so I don't believe any person elected or running is behind it, at least not directly," she said in an email. "The usual suspects are large developers or development proposals, sometimes political parties although the wording of this does not indicate a provincial or federal party is involved."
Those who were surveyed were also asked to rate the favourability of several existing and proposed local development and natural resource projects.
According to residents who received the survey, major projects mentioned included Garibaldi at Squamish, the Oceanfront development, Garibaldi Springs, Woodfibre LNG, Klahanie Resort, Burnco gravel mine, Great Wolf Lodge and Britannia Beach.
The Chief contacted representatives for these projects. All said they were not involved with the survey.
Woodfibre LNG’s communication’s manager, Jennifer Siddon confirmed the company did not commission the survey.
“We have done surveys in the past as a tool for gathering community feedback on our project – but I think the last one was about two years ago,” Siddon said in an email to The Chief.
Squamish developer Bob Cheema, whose family has so far unsuccessfully lobbied the District to allow them to develop their 400-acre property, was also asked about whether he had a role in the survey, but he wouldn't answer one way or the other.
"For privacy reasons, I cannot say yes or no," he said.
Whether or not this type of polling is allowed depends on the nature and purpose, and who is paying for it, according to Elections B.C.
The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act does not prevent any person or any organization from conducting or paying for a poll to help a candidate decide whether or not to run. However, if the poll is also used to inform an election campaign, the cost of polling would be considered an election expense and would be subject to campaign financing rules.
Individuals are only allowed to donate up to $1,200 to a municipal party or candidate. They would not be allowed to give results of this type of polling as an in-kind campaign contribution but could give a candidate cash that could be used toward the cost of polling.
New election rules say campaign contributions by organizations or unions are not permitted. Any services received from an organization would have to be paid for or reimbursed from a campaign account.
And although this type of polling may be legal, according to Simon Fraser University political scientist David Moscrop, there could be ethical problems depending on the nature and purpose of the survey.
"There is an ethical concern if there is an outside player who is coming in and trying to use money to sway the election and get what they want. It wouldn't surprise me to find that happening in places that have significant growth potential, in Squamish," he said.
"I think Squamish is in a particularly dangerous place right now.... They're a small community, but because issues like development, housing… becomes increasingly important as people start to leave urban centres, push out Vancouver and the surrounding area. It's basically going to be a gold rush. I mean, I think it already is."
Polls can be used to take the pulse of a community, or can be used to influence public opinion, he said. The way issues are framed can shape the conversation by priming the public to approach issues from a particular angle.
"Priming is basically how much something is covered; we start to think it is more or less important," Moscrop said. "Polls and mailers play a roll in determining that. That's why you want a competitive information space so that someone can't just walk in with a bunch of money and say this is important, here's what you need to think about, here's how you need to evaluate politicians."
**Please note, this story has been updated since it was first posted. Once to clarify that the representatives for all the projects were contacted and a second time after Coun. Doug Race confirmed he was not responsible for the survey. The Chief had been unable to reach him previously.
