Despite the complaints and bad press, nearly half of Torontonians, 48 per cent, who had their garbage picked up by Green for Life Environmental Corp. (GFL) last week, were very satisfied with the city’s contracted private service provider, according to the results of a poll by Forum Research Inc.
The poll of 812 respondents, being released Monday, shows that satisfaction doesn’t necessarily translate into political support for pro-privatization Mayor Rob Ford.
His approval rating of 41 per cent has barely budged from a year ago, but is down significantly from 60 per cent in February 2011, shortly after Ford took office.
NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) would easily win a three-way race with Ford and talk radio host John Tory, according to poll respondents. Four out of 10 respondents said they would vote for her compared with 26 per cent for Ford and 24 per cent for Tory.
Among the 272 respondents, who live west of Yonge St., and now have privatized garbage pickup, suburban, higher-income earners expressed the most satisfaction.
Only 23 per cent of respondents said they were “not very satisfied” or “not at all satisfied.”
The highest approval rating (58 per cent) was in areas like Etobicoke, which has had privatized service since the 1990s. That may have pulled the average up, said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research.
One in three downtown respondents said they were “not at all satisfied” or “not very satisfied” with GFL, and politics could be a factor, he suggested.
“There is some ideological bent to how people are reacting to their garbage service,” said Bozinoff.
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