Canada’s ruling party falls further behind in new poll
OTTAWA: Canada’s ruling Conservatives, battered by a flurry of negative news, are well behind the two main left-leaning opposition parties ahead of the October
19 election, according to a new poll released late on Monday.
The Nanos survey has the New Democratic Party (NDP) at 32.7 per cent, the Liberals at 30.8 per cent and the Conservatives at 26.2 per cent.
A month ago, Nanos had the Conservatives five points higher and leading the pack.
The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are trying for a fourth straight mandate but have been hit by the fallout from a corruption trial at which Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, testified. Wright has denied wrongdoing.
Recent economic data also showed the economy shrank in the first two quarters of 2015, putting Canada in recession for the first time since the global financial crisis.
Harper has pointed out that June’s data showed strong economic growth.
Nanos said the poll results raised the possibility that, if the Conservatives are seen as likely to lose the election, some of their supporters might vote Liberal to prevent the NDP, which has socialist roots, from taking power in Ottawa for the first time.
“The next potential dynamic would be Conservative supporters strategically voting Liberal to block the NDP,” Nanos said
However, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has made the case that his party would be fiscally responsible, promising balanced budgets while the Liberals are allowing for deficits of up to C$10 billion ($7.6 billion) a year .
He also pledged not to raise personal income tax rates.
The Liberals would hike taxes on the wealthy while cutting middle-class rates.
One caveat on the Nanos poll is that it was taken in the evenings of September 4, 5 and 6, a long weekend when many Canadians likely were on holiday. — Reuters