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Over two-thirds of North Shore residents disapprove of plan for Royal B.C. Museum

Over 70 per cent of readers have reservations about the plan, which will cost almost $800 million and leave the capital without its flagship museum for eight years
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd
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The Royal B.C. Museum’s iconic woolly mammoth, decked out for its 40th birthday in 2020, may live at Vancouver International Airport during the transition period. |Adrian Lam / Times Colonist

The announcement that the government plans to tear down the existing Royal B.C. Museum and rebuild it at a cost of almost $800 million resulted in significant political blowback for the province last month.

While the government says the building is potentially unsafe in a major earthquake, outdated and riddled with asbestos, the public did not take kindly to having news of such a major change announced with little consultation. Many also questioned the price tag of the new museum and the decision to leave the province's capital without a museum for eight years.

North Shore News polled 1,997 North Shore News readers and asked the question: Do you approve of the B.C. government's plan to rebuild the Royal B.C. Museum?

The poll ran from May 18 to June 3 on our website. Of the 1,997 votes, we can determine that 787 are from within the community.

Over 70 per cent of locals who responded to the poll said they are not in favour of the plan, saying they aren't convinced the museum needs to be torn down and the $789 million should be spent elsewhere.

Almost 20 per cent of readers had a nuanced response, saying they would need to know more about the business plan before offering an opinion. About 10 per cent of readers were in favour of the plan, saying the museum is outdated, presents safety challenges and needs to be replaced.

The full results are as follows:

Yes. The current museum is old, outdated and filled with asbestos. A new museum is needed. 9.66% local, 10.17% total    
I'm not sure. Depends on why it is being rebuilt and what the business plan looks like. We don't have enough information. 19.82% local, 18.18% total    
Absolutely not. There's been no compelling case made that the museum needs to be torn down. Spend the $789 million on higher priorities. 70.52% local, 71.66% total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult North Shore News readers who are located in North Shore. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 2.18%, 19 times out of 20.

North Shore News uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.

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