Most Canadians want Parliament recalled, but split on why: poll
Some want Parliament recalled to trigger an immediate election, while others want a recall — but only if opposition parties don't trigger an election
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OTTAWA — Most Canadians want Canada’s prorogued Parliament recalled, but for different reasons.
That’s according to new polling released Thursday by Angus Reid, suggesting that 77% of respondents want to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reverse his Jan. 6 decision to prorogue Parliament — 47% of those want the House recalled so opposition parties can immediately trigger an election, while 30% say they’d like to see Parliament recalled, but only if the parties agree ‘not’ to topple the government.
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Twenty-three of those polled want to stick with the PM’s plan — keep Parliament on ice until March 24 while the Liberals search for a new leader.
Unsurprisingly, Conservative voters were more likely to favour triggering an immediate election, with 86% saying they wanted a writ dropped sooner rather than later, 8% wanting a recall with no election, and 6% wanting to stay the course.
Nine per cent of both Carney and Freeland-supporting Liberal voters are in favour of an immediate election — with Carney fans more likely to support keeping Parliament prorogued until March 24 than Freeland’s fans.
Support for an immediate election increases among NDP voters with 24%, 46% want a no-election recall, while 29% want to wait until March.
A larger proportion of Bloc Quebecois voters (34%) want an immediate election, while 33% favour the no-election recall option, and 33% want to stay the course.
“This divide in public opinion helps to portray the outlook of the country right now,” the poll stated.
“The domestic political landscape is anything but unified, with fissures at the provincial and federal level in dealing with Trump.”
As well, recent statements by Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre that Canada’s never been weaker seemed to resonate among Canadians, with over half of respondents agreeing with his sentiment.
“Liberals have shut Parliament in the middle of this crisis,” Poilievre said last week. “Canada has never been so weak, and things have never been so out of control.”
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Thirty per cent of those polled strongly agree while 23% say they agree, while 41% say they disagree with Poilievre’s statement — about half disagreeing strongly.
Regardless, a little of half of those polled said such statements aren’t helpful while in the midst of negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
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