EDMONTON — Despite Jim Prentice’s job approval dropping in recent months, he remains Canada’s second most popular premier, according to an online survey.
Prentice had a 43 per cent approval rating in an online survey done from Feb. 26 to March 6, the Angus Reid Institute revealed on Thursday. That’s down seven points since December, when half of Albertans thought he was doing a good job. He tied for second place with Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.
The decline comes as falling oil prices put serious pressure on Alberta’s public coffers, and as Prentice himself has faced criticism for suggesting people in his province “look in the mirror” to understand those budget pressures.
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Click the markers on the map to see premiers’ approval ratings.
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Oil prices, the lifeblood of Alberta’s economy, have been in a free fall since the summer, tumbling from US$100 a barrel to below US$50 a barrel in the new year, eventually reaching a six-year low.
The province predicted a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude would average $92 a barrel this fiscal year, ending March 31; that was revised to almost $89 in November as prices fell. On Wednesday it sunk as low as $42 a barrel, before closing at $44.99.
Each $1 drop in the average price over the course of a year costs the province $215 million. Oil prices have plunged so far, so fast that the province expects it will have to dip into a $5-billion rainy day contingency fund to cover off some of the red ink.
In spite of the financial doom and gloom, Prentice tied as Canada’s second most popular premier this quarter.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall held onto the top spot on the list, with the approval of two-thirds (64 per cent) of respondents in his province. At 22 per cent, Manitoba premier Greg Selinger is the least popular, although his approval rating has improved slightly despite turmoil in that province’s NDP.
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