Most B.C. businesses unhappy with federal election outcome: poll

Businesses were slightly more likely than residents to take a dim view of the election, with just one in 10 seeing a positive impact for them

The recent federal election may have been a snoozer, but British Columbians have strong feelings about how it will shake out for them.

In two separate polls on behalf of BCBusiness, Mustel Group asked B.C. residents and businesses how happy they were with the election result and how it would affect the provincial economy.

B.C. residents: We can live with it

When asked how pleased they were with the outcome of the election, residents were fairly evenly split between happy and unhappy, with those over 35 more likely to fall into the latter camp. Couples without children were also more likely to be unhappy with the outcome compared to those who were single and in families.

Those with a higher education were somewhat more likely to be dissatisfied with the result compared to those with a high-school education or less. The same went for people from households with incomes of $65,000 or greater.

When it comes to the economic impact on B.C., one in five residents felt that the election would be a boon to the economy, about one third thought it would do some harm, and just over one third felt that it would have no impact. About one in 10 were unsure what effect the result might have.

This survey took place by phone from October 15 to November 1, with a random sample of B.C. residents. A total of 500 respondents 18 years of age or older were surveyed. The results have been statistically weighted to match census data on the basis of age, gender and region. The margin of error for a sample size of 500 is +/– 4.4 percentage points.

B.C. businesses: Meh

Most businesses surveyed were unhappy with the election outcome. That sentiment was strongest among those operating outside of Metro Vancouver, with 70 percent expressing discontent.

More than one quarter of business owners said they thought the election outcome will harm the B.C. economy, versus just one in 10 who believed the economy will benefit. Businesses with one or more employees were more likely than sole proprietors to take a negative view.

Overall, businesses took a slightly more negative view than residents on the election result and were less inclined to believe that the outcome would help the provincial economy.

This survey was conducted online with 235 B.C. businesses from September 28 to October 4, using Mustel Group’s proprietary online panel, Giving Opinions. The margin of error on a sample size of 235 is +/– 6.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.