Canadians Like Conservative Government

Twenty-two months have passed since Canadians gave Liberals the heave-ho after Adscam, and apparently, Conservative government suits them well. Before the Sponsorship Programme corruption scandal brought down Paul Martin and his administration, the Liberals painted Stephen Harper as a radical with hidden agendas that would shock Canadians. Now, however, almost two-thirds of them are only shocked to find they like him:

With the political battlefield of Parliament returning and with weapons drawn it would appear the largest number of Canadians (63%) believe that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has the ‘right stuff’ of leadership qualities and skills compared to all other federal party leaders. This compares with NDP Leader Jack Layton at 57% and BQ Leader Gilles Duceppe at 63% in his province of Québec (15% nationally), and Opposition and Liberal leader Stephan Dion with the lowest ratings of all of the Federal leaders at 36%. …
Given that the Liberals and Conservatives have the highest levels of support among voters across Canada, respondents were asked who they would choose between if they could only vote for either Stephen Harper or Stephan Dion in an election. The results were similar to the leadership attribute ratings noted above: Mr. Harper fared the best with 56% support versus Mr. Dion at 35%.

The news gets even better for Harper on voter enthusiasm. He garners 60% when voters are asked whether they could vote for him, the only national party leader to gain a majority. Even in the Liberal stronghold of Ontario, 58% of voters feel comfortable voting for Harper, while Dion can’t even find a majority (49%). Dion gets 60% in Atlantic Canada, but Harper scores 57% there as well.
Harper beats the field in negatives as well. Only 37% of Canadians say that they could never vote for the current Prime Minister, while a majority of 51% oppose Dion in those strong terms. The NDP leader, Jack Layton, gets 50% negative marks. Even in Ontario, Harper’s negatives only get to 38%. That’s actually nine points lower than Dion’s Ontario numbers, indicating a huge problem for the Grits in their key province.
It seems that Canadians have become very comfortable with their Prime Minister, across most demographic groups and regions. Dion, on the other hand, appears to have worn thin already. Adscam may have created a long-term shift in the direction of Canadian politics, and Harper may have been the right man at the right time. At least no one’s fooled about his “hidden agendas” any longer.

19 thoughts on “Canadians Like Conservative Government”

  1. I though conservatism was dead. Is the Captain telling us that the posters on Daily ‘Kos have it wrong?
    /I’m shocked, I tells ya. Shocked.

  2. That’s because Harper borrowed the mind ray from Cheney and is using it on the Canadians. Nothing to do with the fact that the 1 loony now equals 1 greenback.

  3. It seems that the petty corruption that contributed to the end of a Canadian administration has now moved west to the other 1/3 of northern North America, where Alaska’s Congressmen and at least one Senator are also in danger of extinction.

  4. Of course they like Conservatives — they like beer, they like hockey, and they have seen what damage liberals in charge can do. From here, across the North Coast from Ontario, it sounds like they’re a really good bunch of people if given half a chance.
    Captain Ed deserves a nice dose of the credit for the recent change, too.

  5. Thanks for the shout out, unklkslksmgoroilsol – I’m well aware of the current mood of my nation.
    Harper’s no messiah, but he’ll do. There are no real alternatives among the giant losers leading the other parties who have fallen into the tired trap of simply shrieking black when Harper says white.
    I’m more than willing to admit Harper’s doing a fairly decent job.

  6. Well, it’s good the conservatives are in charge, but it’s unlikely the underlying political landscape has changed. Canada is a center-left country, just as America is a center-right country. Occasionally the right gets put in charge when the left gets too corrupt, but it usually reverts back within a few years.
    The center-left split their vote between 3 parties in Canada due to corruption in the ruling Liberals and the Quebec vote. The Quebecois are left wing, they just want their own left wing country.
    If 1 of every 6 Americans lived in NYC metro (like with Toronto in Canada) then we’d be a center-left country too.

  7. Canada has had budget surpluses for 8 or 9 years in a row under both Liberal and Conservative governments. Their dollar is very strong.
    Our pseudo-conservative administration has presided over the largest budget deficits in history and a major decline in the value of the US dollar.

  8. Uh… OK, so how is it that ‘conservative’ Harper is all for, a signatory on, the idea of eliminating the nations of Canada, Mexico and the USA – subsuming each into a replica of the socialist EU?
    Methinks a lot of people aren’t buying what masquerades as ‘conservatism’ these days.

  9. Ron C: I’m Canadian, and I’ve heard absolutely *nothing* about dissolving Canada, Mexico and America into a single meganation. For good reason – any Canadian PM who even *hinted* at it would get thunderingly overthrown by large chunks of his own party as well as a unified opposition.
    Canada has a ridiculously emotional attachment to conceiving of itself as “Not-America”. I have a much higher opinion of the USA than I used to, but I don’t want us to dissolve into one nation, and I don’t think any Canadian does.

  10. Please, I urge everyone here to watch this video. Captain Ed, I am sure, could attest to its importance in the last election and illustrates his point about “hidden agenda” better than mere words could.
    This video, released on the Liberal Party website and to the news organizations, before the Liberals tried to pull it back in a panic, is how they tried to paint Stephen Harper: As a man who wanted a military dictatorship. In Canada.
    Watch.
    (only 40 seconds long)

  11. When I hear people saying great things about
    Prime Minister Stephen Harper I always say
    well, if it was not for you, Ed, all the
    terrific leadership we are getting may not have
    come to us.
    After all the years in the liberal hell hole
    it is so wonderful to have a man who we can
    relax with because we can trust him in every
    way.
    Like President Bush, he loves his country first,
    not the money, not the power and not his ego
    are priorities of his.
    As I watched him speak at the end of the
    whatever it was summit in Australia, I saw a young, intelligent and caring man speak so well
    and I said to a friend, he is now a leader,
    he knows it himself, is confident and looks
    great. He fulfills his role with certainty and
    caring for Canada. We lucked out this time!
    Thanks again, Ed for having the courage to
    speak out!
    Carole

  12. It’s also not hurting Harper that the last election produced the unusual situation where it will take the combined votes of all 3 opposition parties to defeat him. Due to the opposition’s inherent inability to agree on anything, he is slipping right up the middle and can proceed as if he had a majority government. It truly is the best of both worlds for him as he doesn’t need to risk going to the voters for a stronger mandate, which in spite of the polls quoted here, is not assured by any means. At the same time he is assured that the opposition parties will be at least as focused on stealing each other’s ideas and popular (leftist) support as contesting his legislation. The current dynamic is unique in Canadian federal politics and will not likely be repeated for a long time.

  13. “I’m Canadian, and I’ve heard absolutely *nothing* about dissolving Canada, Mexico and America into a single meganation.” – Steven J.
    The insider plans for creation of the “North American Union” have been underway for decades. Thank Clinton for taking the first legal step to making it reality – NAFTA. THAT document lays down the first steps to the elimination of the borders.
    It’s all over the Internet – go read about it.
    (I have to wonder what kind of bubble you have lived in, having missed Harper, Bush and Fox in the first two ‘summit’ meetings and signing agreements – and Harper, Bush and Calderon in the third ‘summit’ signing.)
    Don’t buy the propaganda about these being ‘trade’ agreements – they’re everything and anything but. They are the framework of the NAU (North American Union) – and clearly set out a common currency, common government, common legal system, common infrastructure. Hell, it was just yesterday or the day before that Calderon put his stamp of approval on the new currency.
    Wake up – start HERE and do some searches on the ‘NAU,’ the ‘SPP’ and the host of ‘trade’ agreements that Canada is signed onto – beginning with NAFTA, CAFTA, and AFTA. Hit THIS LINK and those on that page. Look at how much they are hiding in FOI obtained documents, then ask yourself what they’re ~probably~ hiding.
    And one last point you can hardly ignore… take a closer look at how the EU was formed – how it was fought and won by the ‘trilateral’ socialists – and what the trilateralist’s goals really are… three ‘unions’ – initially, ultimately to be merged into one government.
    The formation of the Asian Union is well along – it is only the formation of American Union that is giving them fits. And that, primarily from opposition by Canadian and American citizens that keep too close an eye on what their governments are up to.

  14. A Post Script,
    for Steven J. – and for Ed Morrissey,
    since you Ed, have a Canadian readership, well established by yourself, in attempting to tell Canadians the truth… I think you too need to open your own dialog and investigation – regarding the coming North American Union.
    Both of you need to start by reading this document, now some five years old… which lays out clearly the plan to merge the US, Canada and Mexico – and not just in an economic union.
    Note that the writer’s ‘NAC’ has already taken place under the ‘SPP’
    Then note the “North American Parliamentary Group” formation – a government that will sit atop the AU, and rule over the ‘states’ of the union, just as in Europe.
    Then comes the “Permanent Court on Trade and Investment” – the legal wing – of nascent total government.
    Followed by international ‘infrastructure’ and ‘transportation’ plans – an ‘integrated continental plan’ – all of which are well underway RIGHT NOW, with the building of highways, railways, pipelines from Mexico to Canada.
    Point is – it’s happening – and far too few are uttering more than whispered references to close friends. We’ve been fighting this Congress over these plans, and too little of that fight gets published here.

  15. Good Morning —
    This is a positive but it can be gone tomorrow.
    Here in Canada the MSM hates – I repeat hates – Stephen Harper. In particular the state owned CBC would love to see the Liberals back in power. At the moment I sense they are holding back fearful that if Harper and the Conservatives get a majority, one of their first acts may be to close the CBC. But there is no major paper in Canada that can be considered ‘conservative’.
    The Globe and Mail is hard-core Liberal. The CBC in Canada and the Globe and Mail provides the lead to media in Canada much like the New York Times. They hate the war against terror and act much like the US MSM highlighting the negatives and burying the positives. Voters here in the province of Ontario are Liberal, pro-abortion, and pro-multi-culturalism.
    Once the MSM find a gotcha story to hit the conservatives, they will use it to quickly turn Ontario back to the Liberals. To win the election all the Liberals need to do is win a majority of seats in Ontario and the Maritimes and have Quebec go with the Separatist parties.All this can happen overnight — just one gotcha story (true or false, it doesn’t matter).
    Best Reagrds

  16. “To win the election all the Liberals need to do is win a majority of seats in Ontario and the Maritimes and have Quebec go with the Separatist parties.”
    Ah, but Quebec has finally realized the truth about the Bloc Quebecois: that they have been locked in a co-dependent relationship with the Liberals, each relying on fear/hatred of the other party to boost their support. The Liberals have now collapsed in Quebec, reduced to a rump contained in Montreal, with their left flank increasingly under attack from the NDP, who just won a former Liberal stronghold in a recent byelection. With the Liberal/BQ symbiosis broken, federalist Quebec has realized that voting Conservative isn’t such a bad thing.
    Eventually, this realization may even penetrate the urban centres of Ontario, that they do not need to vote Liberal to “keep Quebec happy”, “defend Canada from the separatists”, and other such claptrap that is really all the Liberals have had aside from Conservative fear-mongering.
    There is no Liberal election victory in the cards. The party has no money, a weak leader, and no policies, only their belief that they have a God-given right to rule Canada in perpetuity, and who do these upstart Conservatives think they are not playing by their rules. Stephen Harper is leading them into a slaughter at the next election, and they know it – hence they are suddenly very sick to the stomach at the thought of bringing this government down even as every line they drew in the sand is being crossed.

  17. Stephen Harper is leading them into a slaughter at the next election, and they know it – hence they are suddenly very sick to the stomach at the thought of bringing this government down even as every line they drew in the sand is being crossed.
    Which explains the Liberal Party taking the fetal position with respect to this government. Dion has just handed Harper a working majority in Parliament which will last until the next election, when the electorate will hand Harper a real majority.

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