After Cambridge mayor Jan Liggett commissioned a poll that cost the city $20,000, some had questions as to where the money came from and why there was no public input.
Cambridge Ward 7 councillor Scott Hamilton found out about the poll's contents at the same time as the rest of the general public.
"I was aware the poll existed a few days before the public," said Hamilton. "We didn't have an opportunity to ask any questions or to select who conducted the poll, or it just didn't come to us whatsoever."
Hamilton noted that the poll did not come up in any city meetings that were open to the public.
The poll was to gauge how Ontario residents felt about the province's response to the opioid crisis and mental health/addiction support.
The results found 78 per cent of respondents would like to see the province allocate special funding for mental health and addiction services and 67 per cent agree "Ontario’s laws needed to change to allow families and physicians to provide mental health and addiction treatment to involuntary patients."
Hamilton notes the funding for this poll would have come from the city manager's budget, which has little to no public oversight as to what's being spent.
The approved budget for the city manager's office is $3,643,800 for 2024.
Liggett defends spending on the poll, suggesting it was "well worth the $20,000."
"I wanted to conduct unbiased independent research that would be of use to our provincial and federal government to help assist with solving this crisis," said Liggett.
The poll has been criticized by drug policy experts who worry it might not represent the public's actual opinion on the subject calling it a "waste of taxpayer's dollars."
"At the end of the day, it's still the taxpayers who have to pay for this and while this might not move the needle in terms of taxes increasing, it shows a political agenda being pushed to enforce one's own opinion," said Micheal Parkinson who has worked in drug policy for over a decade.
Parkinson notes the poll's questions lump addiction services and mental health together, skewing the results.
The poll was conducted by Campaign Research, a third-party polling company that has been previously used by the Ontario Conservative Party.
Hamilton adds that depending on the polling company used, you can get drastically different outcomes.
"If you get a study conducted by the Broadbent Institute and a study conducted by the Fraser Institute, same topic, they're going to yield drastically different answers, because they just represent or are funded by different individuals that have ties to different political parties, perspectives and orientations. This is true for pollsters as well," he said.
The poll was shown off at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) last week in Ottawa to other local leaders around the province.
Hamilton notes that since the name City of Cambridge is on the poll and represents not only himself and the mayor, but the rest of the council, he would have liked a say in how it was conducted.
At the AMO conference, the province announced the closing of 10 safe consumption and treatment sites across Ontario, including here in the region. While on the subject, Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones conceded to the idea of exploring involuntary treatment despite shutting it down earlier in the month.
"I'm willing to look at all the options," she said.
It is unclear if the poll conducted by the City of Cambridge had any influence in swaying Jones' stance.
If Hamilton had it his way, he would have polled healthcare professionals, drug policy experts and those working on the front lines instead of asking for the public opinion.
"I don't think CTS sites, harm reduction or drug addiction is an opinion issue. It is a health issue and we need to go to health experts, especially when it's something so mind-bogglingly destructive as the power of our current opioid crisis," said Hamilton.
"This is something that should be decided by doctors and healthcare practitioners. Those are the experts that we should be seeking out when it comes to issues of addiction and effective drug strategies for something as vicious as opioids and fentanyl."
