KGHM Ajax opinion poll rates City council

By MIKE YOUDS

A KGHM International survey asking respondents to rate the City’s mayor and council was designed to obtain a better understanding of local issues, says company spokesman Yves Lacasse.

The survey struck Donna Buckley as odd for several reasons, not the least of which was the probing of opinions outside of the usual context for mine interests. The City of Kamloops has no authority over the mine, so why are they asking about city politicians, she wondered.

“I thought, wow, interesting connection they’re making,” Buckley said. “That got my curiosity up … It suddenly became clear that the two issues were related.”

Lacasse said the survey sought peoples’ opinions on a range of local issues and the rating of civic politicians was part of that line of questioning.

“The questions involved different topics: What are the current issues that we face in Kamloops?” Lacasse said.

“Certainly there are a number of issues alive in our city, Ajax being one of them … It’s about finding out about the issues in the community and where people are at.”

Buckley is a willing participant in phone surveys, but this one gave her pause when the surveyor asked for someone in the residence between ages 18 and 35.

She felt she was being screened out of the survey, since she’s a senior, but was surveyed in any case because no one was home in the preferred age range.

“It left me with something in the pit of my stomach. I just felt that this was not random opinion. I’m not naive enough to think that they don’t do that,” she added, referring to corporate surveys in general.

The survey sampled residents of all ages, Lacasse said. The surveyors were attempting to improve representation in the 18-35 age range, so they screened for that, he said.

Reasoning that the mine issue won’t affect November’s City election, Buckley identified downtown issues as her top priority for the civic vote. “It almost sounded like I disappointed them when I mentioned downtown issues (instead of the mine),” she said. “Ajax was the last thing on my mind.”

Coun. Ken Christian said he wasn’t aware of the survey and doesn’t know why KGHM would be interested in how civic representatives are viewed. “I can’t imagine why they’re doing it,” Christian said. “It’s not in the City of Kamloops and it’s not something that we have much to do with.”

Lacasse said they do not share the results of their opinion surveys as a matter of practice, but added that the recent survey indicated increased awareness of and support for the project in the community based on its revised site plan.

The new plan shifts the operation outside of municipal boundaries, however, even the company expects that the City would annex the mine for tax purposes.

“My gut feeling was that they’re going to lobby for who they want elected,” Buckley said. “What kind of lobbying are they going to do?”