Support for the Liberal government is still strong among Canadians, despite backlash following the Omar Khadr settlement.
A poll conducted by Abacus Data found that if an election was held today, 43 per cent of decided voters would vote for the Liberal Party, while 31 per cent would vote for Conservatives, and 16 per cent would opt for the NDP. For context, Liberals garnered 40 per cent of votes to win the October 2015 federal election.
Thursday’s poll, which was conducted after news broke of the government’s $10.5-million settlement with Khadr, reveals 48 per cent of Canadians approve of Justin Trudeau’s government while 34 per cent disapprove.
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Many Canadians have voiced outrage that the Liberal government granted Khadr — a Canadian citizen who spent 10 years in Guantanamo Bay — settlement money and an apology for any wrongful treatment.
But Abacus Data’s CEO David Coletto explained the “aftermath” of the Khadr controversy hasn’t changed much for the government.
“So far, even in the direct ‘aftermath’ of the decision to settle with Omar Khadr, we find little evidence of a shift in public affinity for the PM or the federal government,” he said in a press release.
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“Despite a series of difficult decisions by the federal government, we find little evidence that Canadians feel any worse about the government today than they did in May.”
Approval of the government is mostly uniform across the country, except for the Prairie provinces — Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan — where more respondents disapprove than approve of the Liberals.
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The highest approval rating is in Atlantic Canada at 60 per cent. The lowest is in Alberta at 37 per cent.
The Abacus Data report goes on to say that reasons for support largely centre on the economy, which many Canadians believe is “picking up steam.” About 68 per cent of Canadians believe the economy is growing — the highest number since the 2015 election.
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Coletto noted that these results confirm a “new era of Canadian politics,” where the government’s performance is constantly compared to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. He explained that this leaves the Conservatives with a complicated task.
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“Very few Canadians are looking for a Canadian version of Trump or even Trump-lite,” he said.
“So, the choice for Conservative politicians is how to criticize this government’s fairly popular agenda, distance itself from the Trump administration, while at the same time offering a positive alternative to Trudeau and his team.”
While the Khadr case may not have affected Trudeau’s approval or support, a recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute did find that most Canadians disapproved of Trudeau’s handling of the case.
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According to the July poll, 71 per cent of Canadians think the Liberal government should have fought a legal case with Khadr rather than settling out of court. They added it should have been left to the courts to decide if Khadr was wrongfully imprisoned.
Only 29 per cent of Canadians thought the Liberals did “the right thing” by offering an apology and compensation to Khadr.
The Abacus Data poll was conducted online between July 14 and 18, 2017, and completed by 2,036 Canadians. The poll is considered accurate +/- 2.2%, 19 times out of 20.
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