Canada's Conservatives are slipping in Polls - Lead Narrowed to 6

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | January 7, 2010 at 06:43 am

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Canada's Conservative minority gouvernment, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is slipping in popularity among Canadians. Just a few weeks ago they were leading by double digits over the Liberal party.

Plagued with the detainee issue, an apparent apathy towards the climate change conference in Copenhagen and the recent proroguing of Parliament seem to have taken a toll on the Conservatives.

Blogs and comments on news stories indicate that there is a growing dissatisfaction and mistrust of the Prime Minister. Canadians seem to be concerned that proroguing was a move by the government to shut down further investigation of the detainee issue.

A senior diplomat had made allegations that Canada had turned over Afghan detainees to Afghan authorities with full knowledge that these detainees would face torture. The government has taken extraordinary steps to discredit the diplomat.

Proroguing the Parliament is effectively shuts down Parliament's work, including committees. Any legislation tabled dies and has to be reintroduced.

Harper is also in the process of appointing five more Senators, which would give him parity if not a slight majority in the Liberal dominated Senate. Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister of the day in Canada.

An EXKOS poll indicates if an election were to take place today, 33% of Canadian would chose the Conservatives, while 27.8% would chose the Liberals, followed by 16% for the New Democrats.

Previous polls had the Conservatives close to 40% popularity.

Support for the Conservatives is waning somewhat, with more than 33 per cent of Canadians saying they would vote for the party if a federal election were held tomorrow, an EKOS poll suggests.

The poll, released exclusively to CBC News on Thursday, asked Canadians whom they supported. A total of 33.1 per cent of the 1,744 respondents chose the Conservatives, while 27.8 per cent picked the Liberals.

The numbers from this week's survey, conducted Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, contrast with those from the last EKOS poll done for the CBC between Dec. 9 and Dec. 15. It put support for the Conservatives at 35.9 per cent and the Liberals at 26.7 per cent.

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Barry ORegan

at 06:50 on January 7th, 2010

Not too worried, I am sure as polls come and go, it will pick up

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:52 on January 7th, 2010

I agree, Ignatieff and his team have their own challenges.

marianmo

at 08:25 on January 7th, 2010

interesting that mr harper said that canadianswerent concerned with detainee question and didnt care about proroging of parliament....could it be that our pm has lost touch with the feelings of canadians

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 09:05 on January 7th, 2010

marianmo, apparently the Canadian public is also reacting to the other out of touch politicians. It is interesting to note that Iganitieff is still six point behind Harper and Jack Layton some 23 points.

My point is that all of these elitists are out of touch with Canadians and jump at every opportunity to gain political points.

I'm still waiting for Mr. Ignatieff to tell me what differentiates him and his Liberal Party from Mr. Harper. He has a great opportunity to do so in the next 60 some odd days to get out and tell the Canadian public where he stands. This would certainly be preferable over a political planned stunt of returning to Parliament tomorrow.

Unfortunately the stunt will work, since a lot of people are so apathetic to politics and what their politicians really are doing.

Although Mr Harper's behaviour doesn't impress me, I guess what I'm saying is that I really want to see the beef from the official opposition.

marianmo

at 10:15 on January 7th, 2010

i agree about the opposition acp...however mr harper is our prime minister and has made several comments about what canadians are thinking......he says we re not concerned about detainee issue...i believe the real issue is coverup by government officials that people are concerned about...not military coverup but political

he says canadians are more cocerned with economic issues...i havent seen much change in unemployment rates or in homelessness

what i see here is closures of hospitals . cutting back of services...when you are put on hold for an hour to talk with a govt agency something is wrong..............where are his efforts to improve government services....where was he when the soldiers and journalists were returned to canada in caskets...while i understand he is a busy and important man...i believe he should hasve been there...he sure wasnt in parliament..........

i really think he has lost touch with mainstream canadians.......not everyone has his political views but he is prime minbister of all canadians and needs to listen to respect the views of such as well as to act in accordance with the views of all

now off the soap box i get

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 10:38 on January 7th, 2010

Let me address your comments point by point.

While I don't agree with the handling of the detainee issue, it should also be pointed out that the detainee agreement was signed with Afghanistan by General Rick Hillier on behalf of the Liberal governement at the time. Turning on Mr. Colvin was totally wrong and the government could have explained why those reports were rejected by the Department heads that screened them.

When a problem was discovered the handing over of detainees stopped until the situation was resolved. That in itself created a problem for Canadian Forces who had no proper facility to keep detainees In fact the one used caused hydration and other problems.

The agreement was then reworked and resigned, allowing proper supervision of prisoners handed over by Canadians to the Afghans.

The other issue was one of record keeping and IRC reporting. Canadians did not maintain proper records of their captured in the beginning. The reporting of detainees to the IRC ocurred the long way, via Ottawa and then Geneva where the information was passed back ot Kabul. A bureaucratic nightmare, since there was no way of telling where the prisoner was by the time the IRC was aware of them.

While I don't believe there is cover up on the prisoner issue, I agree that it could have been much more transparent. The detainee problem was created by two governments, wrapped in bureaucracy.

Hospitals and Health Care are a provincial responsibility. I think you can hardly blame the Federal Government for misgivings and decisions made by the BC government, just as I can't blame Harper for problems created by our fearless leader Stelmach here.

Canadians are concerned with economic issues and on that front the Harper government fares much better than most countries around the globe. Our unemployment rate is 8% while the U.S. is 10%. Their challenge or the challenge of any subsequent government will be to decrease the deficit and operate on a balanced budget. Will this create hardship in the future? You bet it will. Most economists will agree that employment is the last thing to pick up after a recession. The one thing I fear is the devaluation of the US dollar which will affect our trade as our dollar gains strength.

In regards to the last casualties, Stephen Harper was not there. However the Minister of National Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff represented the Armed Forces and the Government.

Michel Jean, the Governor General was also present, after all she is the Commander in Chief.

Marian there are almost as many views as there are Canadians. Not acting on one of your particular issues doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't listen. It really boils down to this:

You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please them all, all of the time.

marianmo

at 11:14 on January 7th, 2010

provincial governments receive health monies from the federal government.....so it becomes a respoonsibilty of both levels of government

you are correct in that transparency was an issue......... for a man who said he would do better he has failed in this. and...if there wasnt a coverup...what did the harper government have to fear....he rarely meets with reporters after a day of parliament and rarely allows his ministers to talk freely openness and information are keystones to good government , not secrecy

he degrades any one who doesnt agree with him..... he tried to with hold funding for the other political parties (last years proroging )you disagree you get silenced by mockery or by proroging

as for unemployment yes it is the last thing to recover but i dont believe that good paying jobs will ever return to canada.... ei benefits will run out for many will he extend those benefits....what is harper doing for the unemployed

small business is the way to go he says .....in mission a lot of the small businesses on the main street in town have closed, the re are more people out of work.... taxes are increasing and hope for the future is low...... no business means more tyaxes for home owners...where is the stimulous money and how is it helping individuals

lack of facilities. affordable housing, jobs these are important and not being dealt with by any level of government...i just hope that he can do something bto help canadians with these issues, and if he is doing something we dont know about it and see little being done

yes you are right you cant please all of the people all of the time....but more effort should be placed on acknowledging the needs and concerns of those who are not supporters of harper and his cronies..and in helping those who need it the most

when you ignore the mainstream of society, you lose power and credibility

dont like this soapbox

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 11:41 on January 7th, 2010

Well I'll help you off your soapbox. You complain about more taxes yet you want the government to spend more. The taxbase during this recession has been diminished. Less people working amounts to less taxes collected. According to Harper's interview with Peter Mansbridge, CBC, all of the Stimulus money has now been allocated.

You make it sound as if the country was falling apart and I'm sure it is for someone that is unemployed, yet Canadians did some healthy spending for Christmas. I understand it amounted to about $700 per person. Most Canadians are confident about what's ahead in 2010. Jobs are picking up again in the auto industry (well paying jobs).

Ignoring the main stream of society is in the eye of the beholder. Can he do better? Of course he can. Canadians for the most part are disenchanted with the proroguing of Parliament and the detainee issue. The opposition, no doubt, will make hay with it. Will they bring down the government when it tables its budget shortly after Parliament returns? Who will blink first?

When it comes to the economy, it is doubtful that a better result could have been obtained, in light of the Elephant south of the 49th parallel.

marianmo

at 13:22 on January 7th, 2010

lol but im not complaining about taxes but at the way my taxes and others are being spent...services have to be paid for...yes but if you were taxed on an income of 40000 and now can only find a job that pays 20000 there are going to be less taxes and less money to spend... efforts need to focus on well paying jobs not minimum wage

i would like to see an accounting of govt spending and appointing more senators doesnt lead to money being saved ....i wonder how much these new senators will receive and who will they be

as for the mainstream of canadians more people voted for the opposition than for the conservatives...as in most elections.....

where is the stmulous money being spent...we were promised a year ago to have full disclosure...where is that disclosure....i think all canadians should be asking mr harper to account for tax money being spent and the borrowed stimulous money

its not the opposition that will make hay of the issues facing the harper government...its the electorate

mr harper needs to shed the arrogance become a leader of not only conservatives but all canadians...i suspect there are those in his own party who are disenchanted with his leadership

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 13:55 on January 7th, 2010

I suggest you write a letter to Mr. Flaherty and ask him for a detailed accounting of the Stimulus Funds. He may, in fact, point you in the direction of the Department of Finance.

Auto Worker jobs are hardly minimum wage jobs. You need to familiarize yourself with the job gains in the last two quarters. That information can be obtained from the Statistics Canada website.

Whether or not the majority of Canadians elected Mr. Harper is not relevant to this discussion. Our system of parliament dictates that the party that hold most seats forms a government in cooperation with the opposition parties.

The fact is that Mr. Harper has remained in power for four years with a minority government, propped up during votes of confidence either by the Liberals or the NDP. Which one of those two parties is in touch with mainstream Canadians. They used politics to avoid an election to save the seats they presently hold.

Personally I agree that government should be held accountable and that is exactly what opposition parties should do, especially when they hold the balance of power in a minority government. The fact is that this did not happen. Opportunities have been plenty.

The Liberals started the year with a big announcement that they would do whatever it took to bring the government down, only to change their mind when the NDP would not vote against the government until the polls dropped. Now the NDP is vowing to bring the government down with the Liberals taking the high road. How does that sit with mainstream Canadians?

It seems to me that opposition resolve goes down as polls drop.

marianmo

at 16:44 on January 7th, 2010

jobs created in canada were mostly part tine i couldnt find newer stats than out of 107000 jobs created in sept of 08, 97000 jobs were part time i dont believe that these stats have changed much

most canadians dont work in the auto sector and most dont earn 72 an hour..... i believe linamar corp an auto supplier continues to cut jobs.....and there is a snowball effect no jo no money to buy goods

just this past week canfor announced the closure of a mill in bc with the tossing out of over 100 jobs...thats not job creation that is unemployment...again snowball effect is seen

i agree that theopposition parties need to say NO MORE

and i hope they do an election may clear the air

the emergence of the wild rose party in alberta shows the dis satisfation of conservative party members with politics as ususal

as for the polls conservatives are sinking maybe now the opposition will gain some intestinal fortitude and bring down this government

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 16:58 on January 7th, 2010

The opposition parties might start out by stating what it is that differentiates them from politics as usual. Opposing is the easy part, without presenting a platform of your own. Maybe an election would tell us what Ignatieff is all about.

By the way we could be in in a majority situation now had Harper not pulled the GAF with cultural funding.

Polls are the flavour of the day, if this will be sustained depends on what happens between now and March.

I really think for Ignatieff to succeed he has to frame himself and not let Harper do it for him, otherwise he will just be another Stephan Dion.

Barry ORegan

at 17:35 on January 7th, 2010

My response in all is is whether Left wing or Right Wing, both wings are on the same Bird of Prey,

As for me, I'll have a Breast of Danielle Rose Alliance , with a Righty Conservative drumstick Please

and a side dish of Sarah Palin Thigh thrown in for good measure!

MMMMMM thigh.....................................................droooooooooooool

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 18:15 on January 7th, 2010

Barry next time you write like this, warn me, I.ll need a diaper.

Barry ORegan

at 21:11 on January 7th, 2010

Gee, well I guess that all "Depends" what you are talking about?

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 03:19 on January 8th, 2010

I bought some of them. All marianmo can do is laugh, can you imagine?

marianmo

at 22:15 on January 7th, 2010

lol

Anti-Harper (not verified)

at 04:56 on January 15th, 2010

Harper has his own problems which have now come back to bite him - the Canadian voter has officially called him out and what did he do - MIA.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 05:20 on January 15th, 2010

He may have his problems, but it remains to be seen if Ignatieff can frame himself or if Harper will do it for him. I, for one, am proud at the Governments' response to Haiti. Who is MIA now?