Demise of polling industry association leaves Calgary election review in limbo
Alberta pollsters are wondering what will come of a review into polling failures surrounding Calgary's civic election last year.
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) — the association that was conducting a review of the pollster at the centre of controversy — is shutting down.
Mainstreet Research published three surveys in the days leading up to the Oct. 16 vote suggesting challenger Bill Smith would easily defeat incumbent Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Nenshi went on to win by eight percentage points.
Anastasia Arabia, a partner with Edmonton-based Trend Research and previous president of MRIA, says she hopes the three independent experts reviewing Calgary's conflicting polling results will still be able to release their report.
"I certainly hope that they will wind the association down in a way that allows the current task that they are working on to be released to members, because certainly that's been an ongoing project for months now — and I'm also keenly interested in those results," she said.
'Big, big polling failures'
After the election, Mainstreet president Quito Maggi admitted to "big, big polling failures" and said one of the surveys had a "wonky sample."
The polls were commissioned by Postmedia, the company that owns the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald.
Maggi promised after the vote to take full responsibility and launch his own investigation.
One of the independent experts reviewing the polling told CBC News in an email that the panel "needs to sort out copyright and legal issues" in order to release the Calgary polling review.
MRIA has not responded to requests for comment.
- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Council green-lights 14 new communities on Calgary's outer edges
- MORE CALGARY NEWS | Calgary ponders Nenshi's plan to spend $25M on crime reduction, addiction and mental health supports
- Read more articles by CBC Calgary, like us on Facebook for updates, and subscribe to our CBC Calgary newsletter for the day's news at a glance
