TORONTO – According to a new survey commissioned by the City of Toronto, residents believe services are improving and that the quality of life is generally better than the last year. The survey, titled “Listening to Toronto” (here the whole survey) was conducted by Ipsos between August 1 and 18 among a sample of 1,138 residents. The result is a five-point increase in the share of Torontonians describing their quality of life as “good” or “very good,” now at 69%, up from 64% in 2024.

Among the most notable improvements recorded by the survey are those related to: interactions between citizens and the City of Toronto (improved by 7 points, now at 82%), perceptions of public safety (+6 points, 65%), recreational programs (+5 points, 95%), City communications (+5 points, 63%) and city cleanliness (+3 points, 61%). Satisfaction with social services also increased by 2%, now at 83%.

Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik welcomed the results, saying they demonstrate that Toronto is on the right path after years of pandemic-related challenges and economic uncertainty. “People in Toronto love their parks and public parks and spaces. They love their public services. What they’re telling us is that their experience of those has improved over the last year” Malik said, according to CityNews. “That is a really good indicator that the direction we are going to get the city back on track after years of neglect is the right direction…”.

As CityNews writes (here) City officials say the survey will help guide budget priorities heading into 2026, with a focus on maintaining momentum in areas where satisfaction is rising and tackling the issues that continue to divide public opinion. It will be interesting to see whether the City of Toronto will also take the survey into account when it comes to the much-discussed issue of bike lanes (the Province wants to eliminate some of them because of the traffic obstruction they cause, while the City wants to keep them): the survey, indeed, also asks which means of transportation is used most often, and the results show that 66% never (or rarely) use a bicycle, 24% use it “sometimes,” and only 11% use it regularly.

Ps: The survey sample included 1,004 respondents in English and 134 in the following other languages: Portuguese (32), Cantonese (31), Mandarin (31), Tamil (21) and Punjabi (19). The other communities were completely ignored.

Photo de Richard Hong sur Unsplash