What do Canadians think about the Political Turmoil?

[Trex]

Here is a roundup of exactly what they think.

Quote:
.Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos-Reid released their poll yesterday evening, asking what Canadians would prefer: an election, or a usurpation of the Harper government by the Liberal/NDP coalition.

• 60% of those polled were in favor of an election over the coalition government.
• 37% were in favor of the coalition government.
• Support for the coalition was highest in Quebec at 50%, followed by Atlantic Canada with 44%
• 72% of those polled said they were "truly scared" for the future of the country (that number peaked in at Alberta at 90%)
• The survey involved telephone interviews with 1,001 adults. In a sampling of that size, the results are considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points.

EKOS
An EKOS poll suggested that support for Stephen Harper's Conservatives had risen during the course of the crisis, despite the testy atmosphere on Parliament Hill.

• Harper received 44% support from respondents. That's a surge from the 37.6% support the Conservatives gathered around the time of the federal election on Oct. 14
• Meanwhile, support for the Liberal Party fell two percentage points to 24%
• The NDP dropped four points to 14.5% support.
• 47% said that a Conservative government with Harper at the helm would be best for Canada during the economic crisis, compared to only 34% for the Liberal/NDP coalition.
• 37% said they wanted a month's reprieve for Parliament to see if the Conservatives can gain back Parliament's confidence.
• 2,536 people (aged 18 and over) responded to the survey. Margin of error was 1.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Strategic Counsel
A poll conducted by the Strategic Counsel landed the same results for Harper's Conservatives; strong showings that creep into majority territory.

• 39% of Canadians favor the Conservatives
• That's compared to 27% for the Liberal Party
• A startling 42% of Ontarians would support the Conservatives according to this poll, a province usually known for it's Liberal leanings.
• With the U.S. election still fresh in the minds of Canadians, 41% chose the Conservatives as the best party to tackle U.S.-Canada dealings.
• Back at home, the Liberals were chosen as the best party to deal with Quebec-Canada relations (a telling figuration there), with 31% support on that issue.
• 1,000 Canadians polled, with an error margin of 3.1

COMPAS

Results of a COMPAS poll also show an increased support for the Tories.

• 51% support for the Conservatives
• 20% support for the Liberals
• In Ontario, Harper would be looking at a sweep with 53% of the vote against 24% for the Liberals and 10% for the NDP
• In fact, the poll even suggests that the Tories could be gaining on the Bloc in Quebec, with 32% support against the Bloc's 35%
• Sample survey of n>500. According to COMPAS "by convention, sample surveys of this size are deemed accurate to within 4.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20."

Trex

 

[JLM]

One thing is for sure Harper is more popular in the west than the east.

 

[mit]

As Martha Hall Findlay commented this morning, Mr Harper is a tactition - He knows full well what he is doing. Any person who feels sorry that Mr Harper can not proceed with parliament needs a head shake. There is no democratically elected head of state that has more power over their government than the Prime Minister of Canada. Can you imagine a US President being able to appoint it's Senators? Being able to dissolve Congress at a whim or call an election at any time? Sure the US President can blow up the world but that is a one shot deal. The US President can choose a Supreme Court Nominee but they must get approval from the house - The Canadian PM can appoint Senators - Supreme Court Justices - Senior Civil Sevants all on his/her say alone.
There is likely no one in the current Parliament that knows how far he can go than Stephen Harper. He is using his powers to the detriment of a long term stable political system. He has been thinking of nothing else but what he would do if he was PM for the last 2 decades. He is a formidable force and with his admirers Mr Baird and Mr Flaherty at his side will reshape Canada much to the detriment of what is left of the middle class.

 

[Vanni Fucci]

One thing is for sure Harper is more popular in the west than the east.

Yeah...that poll must have been conducted in Calgary...:lol::lol:

 

[Colpy]

As Martha Hall Findlay commented this morning, Mr Harper is a tactition - He knows full well what he is doing. Any person who feels sorry that Mr Harper can not proceed with parliament needs a head shake. There is no democratically elected head of state that has more power over their government than the Prime Minister of Canada. Can you imagine a US President being able to appoint it's Senators? Being able to dissolve Congress at a whim or call an election at any time? Sure the US President can blow up the world but that is a one shot deal. The US President can choose a Supreme Court Nominee but they must get approval from the house - The Canadian PM can appoint Senators - Supreme Court Justices - Senior Civil Sevants all on his/her say alone.
There is likely no one in the current Parliament that knows how far he can go than Stephen Harper. He is using his powers to the detriment of a long term stable political system. He has been thinking of nothing else but what he would do if he was PM for the last 2 decades. He is a formidable force and with his admirers Mr Baird and Mr Flaherty at his side will reshape Canada much to the detriment of what is left of the middle class.

Absolutely correct.

In a majority government, there is no other democratic leader on earth that holds more executive power than the PM of Canada.

In a majority situation, we elect a five-year dictatorship......but somehow everyone thought that was all right.....as long as a Liberal was dictator.

Canada needs a little reshaping...........

and I doubt it would be top the detriment of the middle class.......seems to me they have been screwed for decades now........

 

[Tonington]

Curious.
60% favour an election, about the same percentage of the popular vote nabbed by the Libs, NDP and Bloq in the last election.
37% in favour of the coalition, about the same percentage as the ruling Conservative Government garnered from the popular vote.

 

[Colpy]

Yeah...that poll must have been conducted in Calgary...:lol::lol:

The left in this country seems to forgotten two things:

1. We tolerate the Quebecois Seperatists, because we are tolerant by nature.....we tolerate the Bloc in Parliament, because they are elected. We WILL NOT tolerate having them involved in ruling us. Full stop.

2. The Bloc and the NDP are far too left for the majority of Canadians.....and the Liberals are sliding left quickly. Canada is essentually a conservative nation with a social conscience. Go too far left, you fall off the map of most Canadians........

That is why if you held an election today, Harper would have his majority.

 

[JLM]

The left in this country seems to forgotten two things:

1. We tolerate the Quebecois Seperatists, because we are tolerant by nature.....we tolerate the Bloc in Parliament, because they are elected. We WILL NOT tolerate having them involved in ruling us. Full stop.

2. The Bloc and the NDP are far too left for the majority of Canadians.....and the Liberals are sliding left quickly. Canada is essentually a conservative nation with a social conscience. Go too far left, you fall off the map of most Canadians........

That is why if you held an election today, Harper would have his majority.

Hmmmmmmm, maybe, but I think it would be a long shot- but at least maintain the size of minority he had for sure.

 

[Lester]

44% approval is not a long shot, it's healthy majority territory. Martin was the last guy the libs had, that had any brains and this contest would be a lot closer if he was in charge.

 

[mit]

Colpy - You know if the Steven Harper that was elected the first time actually followed the ideals he preached we would be far better off. Yes Canadians were overtaxed - but he overspent - This is not what Conservatives are suppose to do. Yes the military needed investment but it seems that we have money for foreign built transport airplanes and none for Canadian built icebreaking frigates? Many Canadians do not even know that Harper raised out income tax rates when he brought out the first GST cut- trading a sales tax cut for an income tax increase hurt the lower income and middle class but favoured the higher income earners - Now that is what Conservatives are known for - favouring the wealthy supporters - no wonder they are better fund raisers - $1000 donation by an oil executive is a lot easier to do than get 10 Walmart workers to donate $100 each.
And his spending spree - Do you know he re-staffed a weather station on the east coast to great fanfare because the Liberals had automated it as a cost cutting effort - Now we have civil servants monitoring an automatic system. Duh!!!
Remember the beer and popcorn cheques versus the daycare plan - Harper said he was cancelling the funding for the Liberal plan - which he did - then he mailed out $100 a month cheques to families and increased provincial transfers with no strings attached by billions ( No daycares were closed by the provinces - they used the new funding for this) We now pay twice for childcare!
And the Senate - Hey lets campaign on an elected senate then when you get elected as PM and you are not happy with your caucus appoint a private citizen to the Senate so he can be your Cabinet minister (Mr Fortier and Mr Baird were to find $2 Billion in annual savings but could only find $800 million - This leads me to believe either the previous government was fiscally responsible or that these 2 are incompetent) (Mr Fortier cancelled a Liberal Initiative to have competitive auctions for supplies to the Federal Governments - Planned savings were $4 Billion by one estimate - Apparently the government suppliers did not like this process so Fortier cancelled it? WHY?)
Seems no one knows what the gun registry costs now that it has been folded in to the RCMP budget - But no one has been laid off - no service has been reduced - no fees are being charged and over $20 million was sent back to gun owners so it is still costing $80 Billion a year - is now totally funded by taxpayers not gun owners and it looks like it is something that Harper wants to keep.
Harper's platform about Standing up for Canada has fallen flat on it's face - Nobody accused Jean Chretein of being a Bush Lackey - Our reputation as a peacebroker not a peacemaker has had some shine taken off - Our trade deal with out neighbours has given us the short end of the softwood stick and yet we trumpet the fact that we can get a trade deal with Columbia - Great some excellent cocaine to go with BC Bud.

The middle class has been shafted by PM Harper - His tax cut and spend policy has left us without a cushion for the economic crisis - He has massaged parliament to make it weaker and more divisive setting up the stage for another kick at majority conservative rule. All while misleading the voting public and the ones who have influence by not voting with glitzy made in the USA (Same dude Bush used me thinks) guttersnipe.
Not pretty

 

[Vanni Fucci]

The left in this country seems to forgotten two things:

1. We tolerate the Quebecois Seperatists, because we are tolerant by nature.....we tolerate the Bloc in Parliament, because they are elected. We WILL NOT tolerate having them involved in ruling us. Full stop.

The BQ had supported many of the conservative initiatives that would not have been voted in otherwise. Full stop.

2. The Bloc and the NDP are far too left for the majority of Canadians.....and the Liberals are sliding left quickly. Canada is essentually a conservative nation with a social conscience. Go too far left, you fall off the map of most Canadians........

The BQ is socially to the left of the political spectrum, near the Liberals, but fiscally, they are more in line with Progressives Conservatives, which economists consider to the right of the political spectrum though not so far right was the conservatives.

That is why if you held an election today, Harper would have his majority.

Harper will **** it up like he has the last two times...

 

[Vanni Fucci]

44% approval is not a long shot, it's healthy majority territory. Martin was the last guy the libs had, that had any brains and this contest would be a lot closer if he was in charge.

As soon a conservative gets back on TV and opens his yap, the cons will lose 15%...you know it as well as I do...

 

[Lester]

Yeah sure and Dion will inspire us no doubt.

 

[mit]

Mr Harper laments that in the last Liberal Government Federal spending went up by 14% - That does not give Harper the right to tack another 8% on top of that to gain the title of the most free-spending PM in History! Even Sir John A was able to build a railroad - Harper has some shiny US made aircrafts and now wants to sell morecrown assets to pay for them! I think not - This is not what Conservatives are suppose to do - Harper being a trained economist (He did go to school before he became a full time policy wonk (He has never worked outside of politics in atleast 2 decades) He is spending our money to support his democratically elected dictatorship.

 

[Vanni Fucci]

Yeah sure and Dion will inspire us no doubt.

I hope Dion is gone by the end of next week...

 

[mit]

Mr Dion is not a politician - neither was Paul Martin - Paul Martin was a business person in a political arena ( fine Finance minister - dismal PM) - Dion is an idealist - (Big Picture Thinker - not a good person to be in charge) . Harper is a tactical leader - OK if you need to lead a war - not so good if you do not have enemies to slay - (Look at how he attacks the Liberals instead of asking for support)
Harper is not about consensous which is the mainstay of a politician - Chretein was good at this -
Being PM is about leading not winning at all costs - 60% of voters did not chose Harper - That should say something!

 

[Lester]

A greater percentage didn't choose the coalition either individualy or collectively.

 

[Risus]

As soon a conservative gets back on TV and opens his yap, the cons will lose 15%...you know it as well as I do...

Well if dion gets on tv and opens his yap, the Conservatives will gain 25%...

 

[Tyr]

The left in this country seems to forgotten two things:

1. We tolerate the Quebecois Seperatists, because we are tolerant by nature.....we tolerate the Bloc in Parliament, because they are elected. We WILL NOT tolerate having them involved in ruling us. Full stop.

2. The Bloc and the NDP are far too left for the majority of Canadians.....and the Liberals are sliding left quickly. Canada is essentually a conservative nation with a social conscience. Go too far left, you fall off the map of most Canadians........

That is why if you held an election today, Harper would have his majority.

1. The Bloc was involved in "ruling" us under Harper as they were defacto onside with the Cons from day one to keep the Cons in power. I'll just disreagrd your point as pure political blindness

2. The "left" as you call it is somewhat left (NDP) and pretty much dead centre (Liberals). The Bloc is on the right side of hte political spectrum. see answer to 1.

3. If there was an election today, the biggest block of voters probably wouldn't vote (I'll "guess" at over 45%) and those that do, will hand Harper another minority but with less than 100 seats and it will be more of the same 'ol, same 'ol "lame" leadership.

Both the Conservatives and Liberals are going to have to "switch" horses in the very near future - hopefully no later than Feb/09

 

[Lester]

My but we're quick today Risus lol