Majority of Canadians Say Ottawa Mishandled Foreign Interference: Poll

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thumbs through the “First Report” by David Johnston, former special rapporteur on foreign Interference, during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 23, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

A new Nanos Research poll says the majority of Canadians believe the Liberal government bungled the response to allegations of Chinese interference in the country’s elections. A majority also said Canada should decrease its trade with China.

According to the June report commissioned by Bloomberg News, 33 percent of Canadians polled rated the Liberal government’s response to foreign interference as very poor, while 22 percent said the response had been poor. In comparison, 2 percent said the government that done a very good job, 12 percent said it had done a good job, and 24 percent said its response had been average.

“Canadians are clearly ready for a reset on the management of allegations of foreign interference,” Chief Data Scientist Nik Nanos told Bloomberg News.

The poll, which surveyed 1,096 Canadians from May 31 to June 3, was conducted before news broke on June 9 that then-special rapporteur David Johnston, who was hired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to investigate the issue of foreign interference, had resigned from his position.

The former governor general had been heavily criticized by opposition parties for refusing to call for a public inquiry into the interference matter, as well as having personal connections with the prime minister and the Trudeau Foundation.

A May 26 poll from Angus Reid found that 52 percent of respondents believed Johnston should have called for a public inquiry, 32 percent thought it was unnecessary, and 16 percent were unsure. The poll also found that 63 percent of Canadians were either “not really confident” or “not confident at all” in the federal government’s ability to combat foreign election interference.

Trade With China

The poll found that a majority of Canadians wanted to see the country decrease its future trade relationship with China. A total of 55 percent said the relationship should be decreased, 7 percent said it should be increased, and 26 percent said it should stay the same.

In a December 2022 poll, 45 percent said Canada should decrease its future trade relationship with China, 10 percent said it should be increased, and 28 percent said it should stay the same.

Nanos told Bloomberg News that the recent poll results show that the Chinese regime is “top of mind” for Canadians, who are “not only souring on the Canada-China relationship, but a majority would like to see less trade with China.”

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

China is currently Canada’s second-largest trading partner, importing Canadian goods totaling $28.6 billion in 2022. Canada currently has a $54.9 billion trade deficit with China.