SCHEER’S PROMISES DIDN’T ALLAY VOTERS’ FEARS
In a post-election panel, former Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay said the issue of Scheer’s social conservatism was a “stinking albatross” around the leader’s neck and that he was never able to deal with it satisfactorily.
The Liberals kicked off their attacks on Scheer in August by publicizing a 2005 speech he made in the House of Commons opposing same-sex marriage and Scheer was repeatedly pressed by reporters on the campaign trail about his personal beliefs on abortion.
Although Scheer said he wouldn’t introduce any legislation on either issue, the Angus Reid Institute poll shows that it may not have been enough to allay voters’ concerns.
Only 32 per cent of Canadians say they would believe assurances from a politician about keeping their personal views out of politics, while 41 per cent say they would have doubts and 27 per cent say they wouldn’t believe the person at all.
It’s a big concern that, in the minds of many voters, faith is reduced to little more than an indication of a person’s views on same-sex marriage and abortion, said Daniel Proussalidis, the director of communications for Cardus, a faith-based think tank in Ottawa, which produced the opinion poll with the Angus Reid Institute.
“Historically, religion has been understood as this driving force behind all sorts of public activity,” said Proussalidis. “And it seems that the public dimension of faith is being forgotten or opposed. Or maybe it’s being overshadowed by other issues. But when you look at faith, it’s really a lot deeper, a lot broader and affects a whole lot more things than just those two hot button issues.”
The biggest contrast between supporters of Canada’s major political parties came on how much a leader’s personal views on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage affected their voting decision.
More than 80 per cent of NDP and Liberal Party supporters said a candidate’s views on those issues was a factor in whether or not they voted for them. For Conservative Party supporters, that number was 46 per cent.
When they respond to these kind of polls and when they are casting a ballot in the election, voters are connecting the dots from faith to issues that have been associated with it in popular media and politics, said David Rayside, a University of Toronto political scientist who has written extensively on faith in politics and conservatism in Canada.
“At the centre of the Conservative Party is a fundamental tension and no leader can fundamentally or easily escape that tension. And the tension comes from the fact that they have a disproportionate support among religious conservatives,” said Rayside. “And the bulk of the party is not particularly preoccupied so much by social issues. But in closely fought elections they need that portion of the electorate that believes strongly in a set of fairly traditionalist social values.”
Canadians are split, though, on whether a leader’s personal faith should even be a matter of concern for the media during the campaign. Fifty-five per cent of Canadians say a person’s faith should be off-limits with fortyfive per cent disagreeing.
The Angus Reid Institute poll also creates a “public faith index,” which sorts people into supporters of public faith — those who encourage the idea of boosting people’s knowledge about faith and recognizing its importance in society — and opponents of public faith, who think religion should have a reduced role in society.
The index lists 36 per cent of respondents as proponents of public faith, with 35 per cent as opponents and 30 per cent uncertain.
But more than half of Canadians agreed with the statement that “reducing the presence of religion in our public life is a sign of progress in our society,” according to the poll.
The poll was conducted online by the Angus Reid Institute among a randomized sample of 2,057 Canadians and carries a margin of error of two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.