MetroVan Independent News September 2015 | Página 2

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MetroVanIndependent.com

September 2015

News

Conservatives in BC abandon Harper?
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“One of the big problems for the
Conservative Party is the fact that
three-in-ten of their own voters from 2011
are already looking elsewhere,” says Mario
Canseco, Vice President for Public Affairs,
at Insights West.
“In addition, both the approval
rating and the momentum score for the
Conservative leader are significantly lower
than what is observed with his rivals,” he
said.
The early days of the 2015 federal
election campaign in Canada have not been
particularly kind to the ruling Conservative
Party, a new Insights West poll has found.
The online survey of a representative
provincial sample shows that, if the federal
election were held today, 41% of decided
voters in British Columbia (+6 since an
Insights West poll conducted in early May)
would cast a ballot for the New Democratic
Party (NDP) in their constituency, followed
by the Liberal Party with 24% (-1), the
governing Conservative Party with 22%
(-7), and the Green Party with 12% (+2).
The lead for the federal New Democrats
is consistent across both genders and
three age groups. The Conservatives
currently get their best numbers among
voters aged 55 and over (29%, with the
NDP at 41%), while the Liberals do best
among voters aged 35-54 (27%, with the
NDP at 42%).
In Metro Vancouver, the New Democrats
are clearly ahead with 43%, followed by the
Liberals with 25% and the Conservatives
with 23%. On Vancouver Island, support for
the Greens has increased markedly—from
20% in May to 32% in August—placing the

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British Columbia Legislature.

party just seven points behind the NDP
(39%).
Two-in-five decided voters (42%) say
they could change their mind and support
another party’s candidate in the federal
election. The Conservatives (71%) and the
NDP (63%) hold the highest proportion of
fully committed voters, while the numbers
are lower for the Liberals (49%) and the
Greens (33%).
The approval rating for Of ficial
Opposition and NDP leader Thomas
Mulcair stands at 55% (+3), closely followed
by Green Party leader Elizabeth May ( 52%,
+8) and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau
(51%, +5). Prime Minister and Conservative
Party leader Stephen Harper has the lowest
numbers (28%, -7).
May posts the best momentum score of
all four main party leaders with +11 (20% of
British Columbians say their opinion of her

has improved since the campaign began,
while 9% say it has worsened), while
Mulcair is at +7, Trudeau at +1 and Harper
at -45 (with 50% of residents saying their
opinion of the incumbent prime minister
has worsened).
When asked who would make the best
Prime Minister of Canada, Mulcair is now
in first place with 27%.”+5), followed by
Trudeau with 20% (+1), Harper with 19%
(-8) and May with 9% (+3).
The Conservative standing was also
marred further as critics say that some of
the 98 people appointed in June by the
Conservative cabinet are being rewarded
for their loyalty to the Conservative party.
Among those appointed to various
boards, courts, tribunals and other federal
bodies are:
1. Gary Meschishnick, president

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7.

of the conse r vative -leaning
Saskatchewan Party, named to his
province’s superior court
Basil Stewart, a failed Progressive
Conservative candidate from
P.E.I., appointed to the board of
the National Capital Commission,
which is overseeing the
controversial communism victims’
memorial
Brian Coburn, a former Ottawaarea P.C. cabinet minister, also
appointed to the NCC
Denise Ghanam and Thomas
R o b e r t Po r te r, f a i l e d To r y
candidates, named to the Windsor
Port Authority
Ray Castelli, a prominent B.C.
Conser vative, reappointed
Chairperson of the Canadian
Commercial Corporation
Tr o y D e S o u z a , a f a i l e d
Conservative candidate from
Vancouver Island, appointed to
the Military Police Complaints
Commission
Guy Smith, a judicial adviser to
Peter MacKay, named as a tax
judge with a salary of $310,000.

NDP MP Pat Martin, meanwhile, called
the choices “pure patronage pork” and
said most Canadians are offended “by the
idea that appointments are made not on
qualifications but on who you know in the
PMO (Prime Minister’s Office).”
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also
blasted the appointments, labelling them
“the kind of patronage politics that this
government has become known for.”

conservative friends of stephen harper now in trouble with the law