November 15, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Canada’s governing Conservative party is almost even with the opposition Liberal party, according to a poll by SES Research. 35 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, while 34 per cent would support the Grits.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Canada’s governing Conservative party is almost even with the opposition Liberal party, according to a poll by SES Research. 35 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons, while 34 per cent would support the Grits.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is third with 17 per cent, followed by the Bloc Québécois with nine per cent, and the Green party with six per cent. Support for the Conservatives fell by one point since August, while backing for the Liberals increased by the same margin.

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 leads a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party. In December 2006, former environment minister Stéphane Dion became the new leader of the Liberals.

Yesterday, NDP leader Jack Layton criticized Harper’s priorities, saying, "Working and middle class families are directly affected because Harper’s mini-budget put the big corporations first. Now homeowners’ pocketbooks are being hit to pay for Harper’s bad decisions."

Polling Data

If a federal election were held today, could you please rank your top two current local voting preferences? (First ranked reported)

	Nov. 2007	Aug. 2007	May 2007	Apr. 2007
Conservative	35%	36%	32%	36%
Liberal	34%	33%	33%	33%
New Democratic Party	17%	13%	17%	16%
Bloc Québécois	9%	10%	9%	10%
Green	6%	8%	10%	6%

Source: SES Research
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 885 Canadian decided voters, conducted from Nov. 6 to Nov. 8, 2007. Margin of error is 3.3 per cent.