The effort by a coalition of leftist minority parties to replace the Canadian government has failed, and has hurt them badly with the public:
Almost three-quarters of Canadians say they are “truly scared” for the future of the country and a solid majority say they would prefer another election to having the minority Conservative government replaced by a coalition led by Stephane Dion, a new Ipsos-Reid poll says.
The poll also indicates Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives would romp to a majority victory with a record 46 per cent public support if an election were held today.
The survey suggests Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean was in tune with public opinion across the country when she agreed Thursday to suspend, or prorogue Parliament until Jan. 26 at the request of Harper. Almost seven in 10 of those surveyed Tuesday and Wednesday gave prorogation a thumbs up.
The Tories also were deemed by almost six in 10 Canadians to be the best managers of the economy in these troubling times.
It gets worse for the leftist coalition:
Fully 60 per cent of those interviewed said they opposed replacing the government with Liberal-NDP coalition supported by the Bloc Quebecois, compared with 37 per cent who favoured the idea. Support for the coalition was highest in Quebec at 50 per cent, followed by 44 per cent in Atlantic Canada.
The poll indicates the prospect of the Dion-led coalition has prompted Canadians to rethink the value of an election so soon after the Oct. 14 poll. Fifty-six per cent said they would rather go to the polls than be governed by the coalition. . .
[Pollster Darrell] Bricker said a clear consensus appears to be building in Canada, albeit to a lesser degree in Quebec, that Harper is doing the right thing by trying to hang on to power.
“The idea of having Stephane Dion as the prime minister, combined with the coalition being supported by the Bloc Quebecois, is basically fatal in the minds of the public,” Bricker said. . .
The poll says more than seven in 10 Canadians, or 72 per cent of those surveyed, said they are “truly scared” for the future of the country because of what is going on in Ottawa. . .
Bricker said the Conservatives’ spike in popularity appears to reflect a backlash against the Liberals and New Democrats whose support slid to 23 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. The Greens had eight per cent support, while the Bloc polled 37 per cent in Quebec.
This was an epic miscalculation. The coalition could have toppled the government, which might well have backfired, but at least it wouldn’t have violated the usual parliamentary process. Instead, they tried to take over the government without an election, gambling that the public would agree that the economic crisis trumped the importance of process. The public did not agree. In fact, public opinion was just the opposite:
Bricker said Canadians’ unhappiness with the political upheaval now is trumping the question of who is to blame for the crisis. Those surveyed divided almost evenly between blaming the government and the opposition parties.
Dion’s speech disaster didn’t help him either:
The Liberals have apologized for Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s taped televised address, after it was delivered to Canadian networks almost an hour past deadline and in near-cellphone quality. . .
Dion was supposed to deliver the networks a pre-taped statement to the nation Wednesday between 6:15 p.m. and 6:30 ET. It was to air after Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the country at 7 p.m. ET about the political crisis on Parliament Hill.
CTV, along with other major Canadian networks, pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to deliver the addresses. Harper went to air shortly after 7 p.m. but networks were left scrambling to fill airspace when Dion’s tape was nowhere to be found.
When confronted about the disaster by one of his partners, Dion reportedly explained “We’re not used to being in opposition.”
(Via Hot Air.)
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