I got a strange phone call on Thursday night from a woman taking a survey about Fredericton services and Provincial services; she was also doing a report card on the Mayor.
The entire thing was very odd. The woman was clearly Pakistani, there was no way that she was in New Brunswick much less Canada for that matter although she did try to pass herself off as a local. The language barrier was extremely frustrating, by the end of the call I had two fists of my own hair lol.
I had to explain the meaning of my words and I had to literally spell them. This woman could not have recorded my information accurately; she repeatedly said that she would have to get her supervisor to proofread her notes. The survey its self was very strange; first I was told that it was completely anonymous, then the woman asked me for so much personal information that it wouldn't be difficult to figure out who I was.
She asked for my civic address and postal code, my phone number including my cell, my level of education, how much money the household makes and my first name.
Getting back to the actual survey, it was basically a tally sheet comparing Fredericton to Saint John.
The questions ranged from my impression of Fredericton's water and sewer systems, as well as other municipal and provincial services such as: NB Power, Irving Oil, The Daily Gleaner, Enbridge Gas, so many of the questions revolved around The New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board.
There were questions about my personal spending habits. I was asked if I had made any large purchases in the past 12 months such as home appliances, a home or a vehicle. She also wanted to know if I own or rent my home. She wanted to know if me and my family take vacations and if so how often and where to?
She asked if my lifestyle and spending habits have changed over the last 12 months and if so was it for the better the same or worse. She asked if I thought my future in Fredericton would be the same, better or worse off over the next 12 months.
The whole time she was asking me to compare my quality of life in Fredericton over the past 12 months; I was given the impression that she really wanted to know if my life had been impacted in anyway by the arrival of the refugees; although she never came right out and asked that question.
Then she asked if I was familiar with New Brunswick tourism and did I think that Fredericton and Saint John were advertised enough for their tourist attractions. She asked me to describe Saint John as though it were a person and not a place, that was strange.
Then she wanted me to compare Brad Woodside and Mike O'Brien as mayor's. The entire survey was weird, I couldn't figure out if it was sponsored by the Liberal's, the Irving's, Brad Woodside or Mike O'Brien?
After all was said and done I got to thinking about the type of questions I was asked and I was curious about who wanted the information?
Then after awhile when I got thinking about it some more I was angry that the government didn't hire a local call center to collect the data. New Brunswick, is hurting for job's and the Premier prides NB on our service industry, so why did they give this work to an out of province, and possibly an out of country company?
I want answers and I was unsure about who to ask, so I foolishly emailed our mayor Mike O'Brien; keeping up true to form he couldn't be bothered with my inquiry, he still hasn't had the decency or the common courtesy to reply to my email. In all honesty I am not very surprised, I contacted him once before when he was still a Councillor and he shined me on then too.
Anyway Charles, maybe you will have more luck than me in finding out who wanted the survey conducted, who paid for the survey, who is going to benefit from the survey and why was the survey not conducted by a local call center and for your pleasure why did the mayor not respond to one of his constituents legitimate inquiries?
Thank-you Charles for taking the time to read my email and for replying back to me in such a timely manner. I understand completely if this isn't the sort of thing that you're interested in getting involved with; nonetheless I figured that I would send it along your way and should you decide to kick the can a little further or not, then so be it. Thanks again Charles, keep up the good reporting!
Sincerely,
Beverly Hunziker
