(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper remains ahead in an election pitting the five Canadian federal party leaders against each other, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 32 per cent of respondents would support Harper in this scenario.

New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton is second with 21 per cent, followed by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion with 13 per cent, Green leader Elizabeth May with nine per cent, and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe with eight per cent.

Canadians renewed the House of Commons in January 2006. 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. Harper formed a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party.

Duceppe has been the leader of the Bloc Québécois since March 1997. Layton became the NDP’s leader in January 2003. In August 2006, Sierra Club of Canada head May was chosen as the new leader of the Greens. In December 2006, former environment minister Dion became the new leader of the Liberals.

On Oct. 1, Layton discussed his chances, saying, "The door is open for New Democrats to become the place that a lot of people are starting to join. And I just feel that people are questioning the old assumptions. I just don’t accept the proposition that the Liberal party is a party of the Left. Their campaigns are, but their governing isn’t."

The next federal election in Canada is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Polling Data

Imagine that the five federal party leaders were running in your constituency. Who would you vote for?

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,004 Canadian adults, conducted on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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