Lately the Conservatives are finding themselves in an unheard-of situation, statistically tied with the New Democrats. A late-April Nanos Research poll had a resurgent NDP at 32.4 per cent support to the Conservatives' 34.7 per cent, with a 3.2-per-cent mar-gin of error. Liberals were well back, at 23.3 per cent.
The NDP's numbers doubtlessly reflect a honeymoon period for new leader Tom Mulcair, who has impressed inside the Commons and out.
However, that may not fully explain the Conservative dip, which is accompanied by some negative numbers for Stephen Harper's leadership.
Nanos found that since February, the PM's rankings on trust, competence and vision have all dropped.
On leadership, Harper remains miles ahead of interim Liberal leader Bob Rae but is now only modestly ahead of Mulcair (although it's worth noting Mulcair's leadership rankings are not strong in Western Canada).
These findings come just a year after the Harper government won its majority, enough time for it to demonstrate its new governing style.
It's a style that isn't going down all that well with voters. Eric Grenier, creator of the ThreeHundredEight.com web-site which does polling analysis, notes the numbers show Harper losing more support in the past year than in the one-year periods after his election victories in 2006 and 2008.
That is, Conservative numbers and Harper's rankings were healthier following the party's minority government wins. In those circumstances, the PM was required to be more politically cautious to keep power. He had to sell his program to the public and, importantly, to the main opposition parties.
These days the Conservatives have a freer hand, and are using it. The result is they're showing their pointy edges more and delivering on promises to their political base, which is limited. In the past year, the Conservatives have passed an omnibus crime bill that will impose tougher prison penal-ties. And they've dismantled both the federal gun registry and the Canadian Wheat Board. They've cracked down on environmental groups that would thwart Harper's jobs-and-growth strategy through resource development and trade with Asia. The government moved in its March bud-get to streamline environmental review processes to the clear benefit of corporate interests. It has cut public service spending and the government employment roster.
The Conservatives have all but ignored social policy, handing a take-it-or-leave-it deal on health care to the provinces last December. In March, they boldly raised the age of Old Age Security to 67 from 65 for those now younger than 54.
The Harper government is also starting to show sloppiness, which inevitably comes with being in office a while.
Harper maintains a meticulously clean image but Inter-national Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's extravagance and Defence Minister Peter MacKay's questionable use of search and rescue resources have sullied the Conservative brand.
So has the behaviour of Indus-try Minister Christian Paradis, subject so far to three separate investigations by Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.
The robocall affair, which seems to point to campaign shenanigans by Conservative operatives more than any other party, may be having an impact.
And the Conservatives were recently found by the auditor-general to have misinformed Canadians on the costs of pro-curing the F-35 fighter jets it wants to purchase.
To be fair, the Harper team is not doing badly for a third-term government, but it will want to halt the slide of the past year.
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Barbara Yaffe
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