Six years after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Association (WHO), it seems most British Columbians remain satisfied with how the situation was handled by various levels of government.
This information comes from a poll conducted by BC-based Research Co., who sought to find out how people feel looking back on the pandemic.
Research Co. asked respondents to evaluate whether they believed several entities handled the pandemic successfully, or whether their efforts failed.
When looking at the federal government, 67% of BC respondents believed efforts were successful, and 67% also believed the provincial government handled matters successfully.
Both federally, and provincially in BC, the Official Opposition parties had much less confidence from respondents.
According to the poll, only 48% of British Columbians believe the Conservative Party of Canada handled the pandemic well, while just 43% in BC believed the now defunct BC Liberals handled pandemic matters well.
At the time of the global outbreak of COVID-19, former premier John Horgan led a narrow minority BC NDP government with the BC Greens supporting them.
When it comes to how the media handled reporting on the pandemic, 65% of BC respondents believe television news reporting was successful, 62% believe radio news was successful in reporting on pandemic matters and 56% believed newspapers reported successfully.
Specifically looking at the levels of response and the new rules set in place to help reduce the outbreak of COVID-19, the majority of BC believed things were handled well, but the rest of Canada’s opinions fluctuated.
According to the poll, 63% said that the government was right to have strict public health measures in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. When asked the same question, only 59% of Albertans agreed, 57% of Saskatchewan and Manitoba respondents, 55% in Ontario, 45% in Quebec and just 36% in Atlantic provinces.
The poll also found that 6% of British Columbians still believe COVID-19 was a hoax.
Looking to the future, the majority of respondents want to see Canada, BC and their municipalities conduct a public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic to assess preparedness, the public health response, the response in the health care sector and the economic response.
This endeavour is supported by 65% of BC respondents at the federal level, 64% of respondents at the provincial level and 61% at the municipal level.
How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic was handled at the federal, provincial and municipal levels? Is there something you would have liked to see handled better?
Let us know in the comments section!
