Phone scandal should worry all politicians: Manning
Federal Tories received both sobering and encouraging news Friday about the state of conservatism in Canada, including a warning from Preston Manning that the robocall scandal and eroding public opinion of politicians are a threat to the government and all parties.
Manning, the patriarch of the modern-day Conservative movement in Canada, said the robocall vote-suppression scandal that’s rocking Canadian politics is “deplorable” tactics and a problem all parties need to eradicate.
The former Reform party leader and hundreds of other Conservatives from across Canada — including several current and former Tory cabinet ministers — are in Ottawa for what’s being dubbed “a conservative family reunion” that’s hosted by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.
Manning also noted new poll results released Friday by his centre demonstrate Canadians’ perception of politicians “is bordering on contempt” — which poses problems for all parties, particularly the government.
The survey results also produced some intriguing numbers on the government’s handling of a number of important files, such as the economy, health and seniors care.
Speaking to reporters, Manning said all parties should be worried about robocall vote-suppression efforts during the 2011 election that directed some voters to the wrong polling stations and has Elections Canada investigating complaints of voter fraud.
“I think it’s deplorable, those types of tactics. I’ve spent my life trying to get people to participate more in the political process, for them to vote more, and the fact that people are trying to work in the opposite direction is deplorable,” Manning said.
The most important issue is to determine how to end unethical vote-suppression tactics, be it by robocalls or any other form, he said. Manning figures stricter surveillance by Elections Canada and campaign managers is one option, but believes ethical training of campaign workers would probably be more effective.
“I think it should be a concern to everybody; you can find illustrations of people who play close to the edge in every political party.”
The robocall controversy is continuing to erode public confidence in politicians, Manning said, as his centre released new polling numbers on the state of politics and the conservative movement in Canada.
The online poll of 2,067 Canadians, conducted from Feb. 10 to 20, found only one per cent of respondents have a very favourable opinion toward politicians, while 58 per cent said politicians are unprincipled.
All politicians have to worry about this declining respect — it’s bordering on contempt for political people.
Preston Manning, former Reform party leader
The survey has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.
Manning said low public opinion of politicians is troublesome for all parties, but especially the government because there’s a trickle-down effect to whichever party is in power.
“They (the Conservatives) have to worry and all the politicians have to worry about this declining respect — it’s bordering on contempt for political people,” he said.
Manning, however, noted there are several bits of encouraging news for the Conservative party out of the poll, including that Canadians believe the Tories are doing a fairly good job managing the economy.
The poll found 52 per cent of respondents believe the government is doing a good job managing the economic recovery, while 48 per cent said the Tories are doing a poor job.
More than half of the people polled (54 per cent) said the government is performing poorly or very poorly on creating jobs for Canadians, while 46 per cent said the Tories are doing a good or very good job on the file.