A new Liaison Strategies national public‑safety perception study places Winnipeg at the bottom of a 15‑city comparison, marking the weakest net safety score in the country. The survey, conducted August 30–31, finds only 31% of Canadians consider Winnipeg “safe,” while 59% say it is “unsafe,” producing a net score of –28 — the lowest among all cities measured.
Net safety reflects the share of respondents who say a city is very or somewhat safe minus those who say it is somewhat or very unsafe. Toronto follows at –18, while Vancouver and Edmonton each sit at –8. The results also show Winnipeg’s safety reputation has worsened over time: its net score has dropped from –18 in 2017 to –28 today.
Unlike cities where perception diverges from official crime data, Winnipeg’s public image and its crime statistics point in the same direction. The city holds the highest Crime Severity Index among the cities tested, reinforcing the public’s view that Winnipeg faces significant safety challenges.
The Liaison study asked Canadians to rate 15 major cities on a scale from “very safe” to “very unsafe,” or indicate if they lacked enough information to say. The poll surveyed 1,500 adults using Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) and random‑digit dialing, weighted to demographic and geographic targets. The margin of error is ±2.53 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Liaison Strategies, one of Canada’s most accurate polling firms — ranked #1 in the 2025 Ontario election and #2 nationally in the 2025 federal election — says Winnipeg stands out sharply in this year’s results.
“Winnipeg is the clearest safety concern in this study,” said David Valentin, Principal at Liaison Strategies. “Public perception and official indicators are reinforcing each other, making the issue harder to dismiss and harder to communicate around.”
Only 12% of respondents say crime statistics are the main factor shaping their impressions of city safety. Most rely on news coverage, personal experience, word of mouth, and broader city reputation — a challenge for Winnipeg as both perception and data trend negatively.
Detailed poll results and tables are available in the Safe and Unsafe Cities 2026 report.
- Brandon was not included in this public survey.
