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Debate, polls fuel Tory majority hopes |
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A broad consensus that Stephen Harper had won the latest round of
televised debates, combined with his party's surging fortunes in two new
polls, fuelled talk that Canada would have a majority Conservative government
after the January 23 election.
Unlike the previous debates, there was no mention of immigration policies in the final English language debate, held in Toronto.
Prime Minister Paul Martin was left scrambling to defend his government in the face of attacks by both Harper, the Conservative Party leader, as well as the NDP's Jack Layton. Martin's Liberals have been plagued by an error-filled campaign and an RCMP criminal investigation that appeared to pull the bottom out of Liberal support.
Television commentators generally agreed Harper had come out of the debates looking the most "prime ministerial" of the leaders, and viewers tended to agree. Instant polls conducted by the CBC, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail all showed Harper impressed them the most, with Martin a distant second.
That might prove ominous for Martin, with the latest opinion polls, held before the debate, already giving Harper's Tories a nine to 12-point lead. That lead could stretch further in post-debate polling.
One new poll, conducted by Decima Research and reported in mainstream newspapers across the country, gave the Tories 36 per cent support among voters who said they were either decided or leaning one way and likely to vote. The Liberals, meanwhile, plummeted five points to 27 per cent, their support among left-of-centre voters eroded by the New Democrats, while Tories have eaten away at Liberal support outside major urban centres and in Quebec.
In a second poll, conducted by EKOS Research Associates for the Toronto Star and La Presse, the Conservatives have sailed into majority government territory. The survey of 1,240 Canadians found 39.1 per cent support for the Conservatives, with the Liberals at 26.8 per; the NDP 16.2 per cent; the Bloc Québécois 12.6 per cent; and Green party 4.6 per cent.
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Newsfile 