Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives would coast to an easy victory — but not necessarily a majority — if a federal election were held today, according to a new poll done exclusively for Canwest News Service and Global National. […]
The long political break imposed by Harper when he prorogued Parliament in December appears not to have harmed his party’s standing as MPs return to Ottawa for the beginning of a new session Wednesday. With 37 per cent support, the Tories are up three percentage points compared to a month ago.
Gold medal hockey games and pwning the odium notwithstanding, this should come as no surprise. What’s nominally more surprising is that after 4 years the opposition remains so stunningly lame that voters would still rather opt for the devil they know than the devil who isn’t doing much to attract their votes other than shrieeeeeek about Harpoonie the THEOCONAZIDOG!!!
Clearly not a winning formula. Maybe it’s what the opposition is, not what Harper is, or isn’t, or might be, that’s really important to voters in the nut-cutting hour. Ya think?
UPDATE: Just to be clear, the key phrase here is “the opposition” — as in Opposition MPs and candidates. Hope this helps.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/tny_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
unrepentant old hippie 
The problem is not that the opposition is doing nothing but calling Harper a THEOCONNAZIDOG, in fact the problem is that they are NOT calling him that. They are being reasonable and cautious and playing by the old rules of fairness and consensus that used to apply to the running of a minority government. They lack leadership, lack the guts to call the government on its shit and go to the polls and lack any meaningful alternative policy in the case of the Liberals or any realistic policy the broader public is aware of in the case of the NDP. Harper pushes them around and they take it — that’s the problem.
It’s interesting that when the Government isn’t doing anything their numbers climb. When they are in session and the dirty laundry gets aired, the start to fall.
Still after 4 years, Canadians are no closer to giving him a majority. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement.
As for me, I am still hoping for a Unite the Left movement. That’s the only way the majority (62%+ !!!) of Canadians are going to get their voice.
Then again, consider the source of the poll. CANWEST. There’s bound to be some bias in the questions.
The EKOS poll conducted over the same period with twice the sample size had quite different results, and Harper hasn’t been forced to answer any questions for two months, so I wouldn’t worry too much. And with the theocons in the PMO calling the shots these days, including the former President of Focus on the Family I agree with Paperboy, the opposition is far too timid. And I would add that if Harper does get his way he will have far more more of an effect on abortion and gay rights than for example Sarah Palin ever will…
Actually, you can breath easy. The president of EKOS polling made this statement yesterday:
“I think the public do recognize that it was Sidney Crosby, not Stephen Harper, who put the puck in the net”
EKOS President Graves
http://tinyurl.com/y8zvfkw
Simon and Leftdog are right, this poll cannot have the same weight attributed as the EKOS results shown a few days ago. When the sample size increases, his numbers fall and both parties are within the margin of error of winning an election.
It’ll take the budget to prove what Harper is made of and whether or not Canadians are prepared to sacrifice their public services to forgive the Cons for putting us into deficit.
Harris-Decima has a dead heat this AM:
toujoursdan: I’d be all for a unite the left movement if I felt the Liberals were on the left. I see them as being slightly center right, especially under Iggy. At least they seem to be on the correct side of social issues (the progressive side).
Rev.
Exactly my point. The opposition isn’t giving anyone a reason to vote for THEM, which is what people need if they’re going to vote for change.
toujoursdan
Absolutely. By now Harper should be well into majority territory, so he’s obviously got a problem too. That should be an opportunity for the Liberals, yet they don’t seem to have done much with it. They should get their arses in gear and come up with some kind of coherent message about who they are, other than Not-Harper.
JAB – Bias? Canwest?? Surely you jest 😉
Simon – I’m not worried, and you shouldn’t be either 😉
Although my post was a little tongue-in-cheek, I was specifically referring to Iggy’s more-pro-choice-than-thou posturing a few weeks ago. It just rubbed me the wrong way, since it was the LPC who was largely responsible for getting an anti-choice bill almost passed into law a couple of years ago.
These guys are all liars and human scum, and I want no part of any of them.
leftdog
Yes, I saw that one. I was posting a little tongue-in-cheek here, since I’ve seen some paranoid ranting about how a gold medal in mens hockey would catapult Harper to a majority. Duh. I think most Canadians are a little sharper than that.
dylan – Agreed. I don’t take any poll too seriously unless it’s part of a continuous trend, and so far, we haven’t seen that. The only trend is that Harper consistently falls short of majority territory.
Scott – As I said above, I don’t take polls too seriously unless they show a trend and momentum, and so far the only trend is for the LPC and the CPC to be tied. Which means same old same old — another minority gov’t for the CPC if an election were held today.
hi JJ…in addition to all those other polls maybe you should read this too
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/immigration-minister-pulled-gay-rights-from-citizenship-guide-documents-show/article1486935/
I agree we have some dismal choices but some are worse than others…
Bleatmop – IMO, Canadians seem to like being governed from the center — except on social issues where we’re firmly on the left side, but even then it’s mostly because the average Canadian doesn’t consider things like abortion and gay marriage to be any of their business (and rightly so).
A left-center coalition is a daydream. Look at the fighting that goes on between LPC and NDP partisans, even on Progressive Bloggers. If the NDP and LPC somehow became one party, they’d quickly win a majority gov’t and just as quickly it would all fall apart.
Simon – I’d expect nothing less from a slimeball like Kenney. Good thing he got caught.
My post isn’t meant to defend Harper in any way — I’m trying to say that if the opposition wants to get any momentum with voters, they have to start telling people what THEY have to offer as well as shrieking about Harper this and Harper that. They need to convince people to want the change that they alone can bring.
Sidney Crosby can put a puck in a net and the nation cheers wildly.
Stephen Harper can’t even get legislation through the Commons or Senate or committees. He and his cronies use every procedure to stall then blame it on the opposition. He keeps coming up with short-handed parliamentary minorities and fires blanks into the Commons. There may be activity (prorogation asied) but little achievement.
Crosby, on the other hand, does achieve what he sets out to do.
A case of contrasts, eh?
Haha, for sure.
My reference to Crosby was a tongue in cheek tweak at the noses of those who think Canadians can’t tell the difference, but a study in contrasts is also apt.