(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Canada believe the governing party has been hurt by an ongoing rift with the country’s non-partisan electoral agency, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies released by the Toronto Star. 58 per cent of respondents believe the dispute between Elections Canada and the Conservatives has damaged the party’s credibility.

Still, 47 per cent of respondents think the Tories won the 2006 federal election in a fair manner, and only 28 per cent believe the government should resign over this matter.

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.

Ronald Lamothe—the assistant chief investigator in the office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections—alleged in an affidavit that the Conservatives contravened federal election laws by funnelling money in and out of the campaigns of local Tory candidates. According to Lamothe, the manoeuvre allowed the Conservatives to spend $1.1 million above their legal limit in media advertising during the 2006 federal election.

On Apr. 16, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigators executed a search warrant at the Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa on behalf of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, an independent office within Elections Canada. Liberal leader Stéphane Dion declared: "A search warrant in Canada is not something frivolous. You have to convince a judge that there are valid reasons to believe that something illegal had been done."

On Apr. 22, Harper discussed the situation, saying, "Our position is we always follow the law as we understand it. More important, we always follow the law as it has been interpreted. We were following it in the last election—the interpretations that were put on that law in the past. If those interpretations change, though, we’ll of course conform."

When asked whether political parties should be allowed to channel funds for advertising from the national campaign to local campaigns, 39 per cent of respondents agree, while 41 per cent disagree.

Polling Data

From what you have seen, heard or read about the ongoing dispute between Elections Canada and the Conservative Party, do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Source: Angus Reid Strategies / Toronto Star 
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,001 Canadian adults, conducted on Apr. 23 and Apr. 24, 2008. Margin of error is 2.0 per cent.

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