The Tyee introduces today a new feature: The Barometer. It's a fast and easy-to-take poll to gauge the opinions of Tyee readers on important issues in B.C. (This week's question asks you to list your top three transportation funding priorities.)

You'll find The Barometer smack in the middle of The Tyee's homepage, The Election Hook homepage, and elsewhere on the site, too. If you get The Tyee's weekly eNews headlines you'll already be acquainted with the poll we've long included in that package. Now we've switched it over to The Barometer, in the process making the survey a bit more interactive and able to handle more complex questions.

Is The Barometer a scientific measure of average opinion in British Columbia and beyond? Ahem, no. The self-selected sample is merely representative of who has been reading The Tyee and volunteered with a mouse click to weigh in on the issue presented. Consider The Barometer a somewhat fuzzy snapshot of what others visiting this site think and feel. The purpose of The Barometer is really to invite people to ponder issues and reflect back to the Tyee community their points of view.

Sometimes questions on The Barometer are sponsored by a paying organization, and labelled as such. For example, for this and the next three weeks, The Barometer is sponsored by SFU Public Square, whose team helped craft the questions posed. The questions will always be consistent with the kinds of issues we already cover on The Tyee. The Tyee appreciates this type of financial support, which helps to bring you more of the excellent reporting you come here for.

One thing we at The Tyee have learned over the years is that if you ask our community members for their opinions, they will share them gladly. We look forward to seeing where this new means of interacting takes us!

For more information about sponsoring questions on The Barometer, contact Michelle Hoar at mhoar@thetyee.

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.