Earlier this morning, I spotted yesterday’s TBnewswatch article “Fewer than 150 people participated in 2026 budget survey”. The article stated there was a report submitted to City Council, so I went looking for it on the City’s website.
The report, entitled “Proposed 2026 Operating Budget Engagement Results”, states the survey study was a “self-directed survey” and “should be considered as a feedback mechanism and not a representation of the opinion of the greater population”.
The report notes 142 survey responses were received, and under the “Statistical Significance” section states:
“As the sample is quite small, the results cannot be extrapolated to the entire population of the City of Thunder Bay without a large margin of error and must be referred to as the opinions of the respondents of this survey.”
I found that part of the report particularly interesting. 142 responses is “quite small”, is not representative of the entire population of Thunder Bay “without a large margin of error”, and is “not statistically significant”.
Strange, that’s not what the City said when they reported on the same number of survey responses, for the same type of “self-directed survey” launched on the Get Involved webpage for the “Proposed Housing Developments on City Surplus Lands”. Those 142 survey responses were considered “strong public engagement”.
Why would the City have two completely different views of survey responses when those two surveys were conducted in the same way AND had the same number of survey responses? Could it be that the Get Involved surveys are merely for show, a hollow demonstration of public engagement? Could it be that the results of a particular survey are sometimes presented more positively when it suits City Administration or City Council?
As for the operating budget survey, the results were provided to Council at their February 3, 2026 meeting, the same night they ratified the budget. So, in reality, this survey was really political theatre. Our comments, survey responses, and written emails did absolutely nothing to inform the budget process. So much for engagement.