Excerpts from the La Presse article "Ignatieff revives the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec."

 “The Conservatives have literally plummeted in popular opinion to the advantage of the Liberal Party of Canada, according to a CROP-La Presse poll. What’s worse, the level of satisfaction with the Harper government among Quebecers is also on a downward slope.

 

The political landscape has changed in Quebec since the October 14 election. Conservative Party support is in free fall in the province whereas the Liberal support among voters has seen a huge increase, to the point where Michael Ignatieff’s team is on the heels of the Bloc Québécois.

 

If a federal election were held today, the Conservative Party would receive a meagre 16 per cent of the vote, a drop of six percentage points since the last poll and its worst score since coming to power. The Liberal Party would come out as the main beneficiary of Quebec’s mood change, receiving 31 per cent of the votes compared to the 24 per cent it garnered on Election Day.

 

The Bloc Québécois, which received 38 per cent of the vote in the last election, would see its support fall to 34 per cent. Finally, the NDP would get 15 per cent voter support, almost as much as the Conservatives. On Election Day, Jack Layton’s NDP team received 12 per cent of the votes in Quebec.

 

These are the results of a CROP poll of 1000 respondents surveyed January 15-25^th, before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his budget in the House of Commons on Tuesday.  This is the first federal opinion poll conducted in Quebec since the last election, with a three point margin of error, 19 times of out 20.”

 

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 “Among francophone voters, the Bloc Québécois continues to lead in voter intentions with 40 per cent. But the Liberal Party has replaced the Conservative Party in second place as the choice of 26 per cent of francophones –more than twice the support they received in the last poll conducted September 18-28, during the election campaign. 

The Conservative Party lost almost half of its support among francophones. It received no more than 15 per cent voter support compared to 29 per cent in the last poll.”

 

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“And the bad news doesn’t stop there for the Conservatives.  No more than 34 per cent of Quebecers indicated that they are satisfied with the Harper government’s handling of federal affairs, while 61 per cent reported they were dissatisfied. This is the worst showing for the Conservative government since coming to power three years ago.

 

Worst of all, only 16 per cent of the people interviewed chose Stephen Harper among the current leaders as the best prime minister. In this respect, Mr. Harper lags behind both Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton. The Liberal Leader is the best choice for prime minister according to 37 per cent of respondents, while 23 per cent of Quebecers chose Mr. Layton.”