Peter MacKay most favoured of potential Conservative leaders: poll - The Globe and Mail It will be months before the Conservatives pick a permanent leader to succeed Rona Ambrose, but a new poll indicates one of her former cabinet colleagues has a head start in the race.
Peter MacKay – the former justice minister, Atlantic MP and final leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives – had the support of more than 30 per cent in a new Abacus Data survey. His support came most strongly from Atlantic Canada and Ontario.
Mr. MacKay held a substantial lead over the next-most-popular option, former Quebec premier Jean Charest (also a former federal PC leader), who was the pick of 15 per cent of respondents.
Not far behind them were former cabinet ministers Lisa Raitt of Ontario and Jason Kenney of Alberta, each at 10 per cent, and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall with 9 per cent.
While Ms. Raitt showed consistent support among demographics and geography, some politicians had support that was more localized. Mr. Wall found most of his support in the poll from the Prairies and among current Conservative voters, while Maxime Bernier showed strong support among Quebeckers.
Former labour minister Kellie Leitch, who says she is giving a leadership run “serious consideration,” may be suffering from less name recognition. She had the lowest level of support with 4 per cent of respondents saying she would make the best leader.
Other potential contenders polled included Ontario MP Michael Chong and former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford.
Obviously there are some caveats: the rules of the Conservative leadership race haven’t been decided yet, and an election isn’t likely to be called before next fall. No candidate has yet formally declared. And, unless the party changes how the leadership is decided, only card-carrying Conservatives will be able to vote, not the general public. But, as an example, a poll conducted by Leger just a few months after the 2011 election correctly called the winners of the NDP and Liberal leadership races.
The Abacus survey was conducted online with 1,500 Canadians between Nov. 23 and 25. Online surveys do not carry a margin of error, though a comparably-sized random sample of adults would be considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Read the full poll here.
After about a year and a half to two years the wretched stink that associated him with the Harpo government will slowly disappear.
And the religious reformers will believe that he is actually a conservative.
Peter MacKay – the former justice minister, Atlantic MP and final leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives – had the support of more than 30 per cent in a new Abacus Data survey. His support came most strongly from Atlantic Canada and Ontario.
Mr. MacKay held a substantial lead over the next-most-popular option, former Quebec premier Jean Charest (also a former federal PC leader), who was the pick of 15 per cent of respondents.
Not far behind them were former cabinet ministers Lisa Raitt of Ontario and Jason Kenney of Alberta, each at 10 per cent, and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall with 9 per cent.
While Ms. Raitt showed consistent support among demographics and geography, some politicians had support that was more localized. Mr. Wall found most of his support in the poll from the Prairies and among current Conservative voters, while Maxime Bernier showed strong support among Quebeckers.
Former labour minister Kellie Leitch, who says she is giving a leadership run “serious consideration,” may be suffering from less name recognition. She had the lowest level of support with 4 per cent of respondents saying she would make the best leader.
Other potential contenders polled included Ontario MP Michael Chong and former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford.
Obviously there are some caveats: the rules of the Conservative leadership race haven’t been decided yet, and an election isn’t likely to be called before next fall. No candidate has yet formally declared. And, unless the party changes how the leadership is decided, only card-carrying Conservatives will be able to vote, not the general public. But, as an example, a poll conducted by Leger just a few months after the 2011 election correctly called the winners of the NDP and Liberal leadership races.
The Abacus survey was conducted online with 1,500 Canadians between Nov. 23 and 25. Online surveys do not carry a margin of error, though a comparably-sized random sample of adults would be considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Read the full poll here.
After about a year and a half to two years the wretched stink that associated him with the Harpo government will slowly disappear.
And the religious reformers will believe that he is actually a conservative.