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Tories Drop, All Others Gain in Canada
- The governing Conservative party is losing public backing in Canada, according to a poll by Ipsos-Reid released by CanWest Global. 39 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next federal election.
The Liberal party is second with 27 per cent, followed by the New Democratic Party (NDP) with 17 per cent, the Bloc Québécois with 10 per cent, and the Green party with seven per cent. Support for the Tories fell by four points, while backing for the Liberals, the NDP and the Greens increased by the same margin.
Canadians renewed the House of Commons in January. The Conservative party—led by Stephen Harper—received 36.3 per cent of the vote, and secured 124 seats in the 308-member lower house. Since February, Harper leads a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party.
In April, Canada and the United States reached an agreement on a framework to end the softwood lumber dispute. Under the proposed deal, Canadian producers would be limited to a 34 per cent share of the U.S. market before taxes are levied on exports. The U.S. would return $4 billion U.S. collected from Canadian firms.
Yesterday, international trade minister David Emerson acknowledged that the deal might not be put to the consideration of the House of Commons, saying, "It is fair to say that if we do not have sufficient buy-in from industry there really isn't an agreement to bring before Parliament. So the first bridge we have to cross is to get the agreement supported by the appropriate number of players in the industry, otherwise you're dead before arrival."
Polling Data
What party would you vote for in the next federal election?
Jul. 2006 | May 2006 | Mar. 2006 | |
Conservative | 39% | 43% | 38% |
Liberal | 27% | 25% | 28% |
New Democratic Party | 17% | 15% | 19% |
Bloc Québécois | 10% | 9% | 9% |
Green | 7% | 5% | 5% |
Source: Ipsos-Reid / CanWest Global
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Canadian adults, conducted from Jul. 25 to Jul. 27, 2006. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.