Canada: Public Wants Compromise, Not Coalition, Poll Finds

by Mary Richard | December 13, 2008 at 06:28 pm

217 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

A new poll, conducted since Michael Ignatieff has taken the reigns of the Liberal party, suggests that Canadians are uncomfortable with a coalition government and would prefer going to the polls again in early January if Governor General Michaelle Jean has to choose between the two options.

Almost two-thirds of Canadians say they want Michael Ignatieff, the new head of the federal Liberal party, to seek a compromise with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to keep the Conservatives in power instead of joining the New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois early in the new year to defeat the minority government, according to the findings of a poll released yesterday by Ipsos Reid.

The only place the coalition had majority support was in Quebec at 62%. The opposition was the strongest was in Alberta at 80%.

"All of a sudden, Stephen Harper's hand has got a lot stronger," Darrell Bricker, president of Ipsos Reid, said yesterday. "There is no reason for him to fear an election."

The Conservative party would garner 45% of the vote and score a majority at this time.