August 31, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Support for the governing Conservative party remains stable in Canada, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 33 per cent of decided voters would support the Tories in the next federal election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Support for the governing Conservative party remains stable in Canada, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 33 per cent of decided voters would support the Tories in the next federal election.

The Liberal party is second with 29 per cent, followed by the New Democratic Party (NDP) with 19 per cent, the Bloc Québécois with nine per cent, and the Green party also with nine per cent. Support for the Tories, the NDP and the Bloc remained stable, while backing for the Grits and the Greens increased by one point.

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.

On Aug. 14, Harper announced a cabinet shuffle, replacing defence minister Gordon O'Connor with Peter MacKay, and appointing Maxime Bernier as the new foreign affairs minister. The prime minister said the new cabinet "presents Canadians with a clear choice—a choice between strong leadership that is moving Canada forward or a weak opposition that would set families and taxpayers back."

Liberal leader Dion expressed disappointment with the government, saying, "For the second time in less than two years, Mr. Harper has been forced to replace incompetent ministers. (...) Over the last 19 months, it has become abundantly clear that Mr. Harper has kept tight reins on the entire Conservative agenda, which means that his failure rests only with him."

Polling Data

If a federal election were held tomorrow, which one of the following parties would you be most likely to support in your constituency?

	Aug. 23	Jul. 18	Jun. 18	May 23
Conservative	33%	33%	34%	35%
Liberal	29%	28%	27%	28%
New Democratic Party	19%	19%	19%	18%
Bloc Québécois	9%	9%	10%	9%
Green	9%	8%	8%	9%
Other	1%	3%	1%	1%

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,133 Canadian adults, conducted from Aug. 21 to Aug. 23, 2007. Margin of error is 2.1 per cent.