Tories Now Tied With Bloc in Quebec: Poll

Quebec provincial flag flies in Ottawa on July 3, 2020. (The Canadian Press/ Adrian Wyld)

The Conservative Party is now tied with the Bloc Québécois in Quebec, the only province where the Tories are not leading in the polls, a new survey from Leger has found.

The new poll on Canadian federal politics, released May 28, indicates that among Quebecers, 29 percent support the Conservatives compared with 29 percent for the Bloc, 26 percent for the Liberals, and 8 percent for the NDP.

Back in May 2023, the Liberal Party had the lead in Quebec, with 38 percent support, compared with the Bloc’s 32 percent, the Conservatives’ 15 percent, and the NDP’s 9 percent.

Tories have been generally leading in all other provinces in Canada for months.

The recent Leger poll, which was conducted between May 24 and 26, indicates that nationally, the Conservative Party still has a sizable lead over the governing Liberals. The Tories have the support of 42 percent of Canadians, compared with 23 percent for the Liberals, 18 percent for the NDP, and 6 percent for the Bloc Quebecois.

“Almost one-third of Canadians think Pierre Poilievre is the leader who would make the best Prime Minister among the federal party leaders (28 percent), ahead of Justin Trudeau (16 percent) and Jagmeet Singh (16 percent),” the poll said.

Mr. Poilievre’s support decreased by four points compared to the previous month, while Mr. Trudeau’s support remained the same, the results indicated.

Two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) indicated they were dissatisfied with the current government, while 27 percent were were satisfied and 7 percent either did not know or preferred not to answer.

The poll also asked respondents to indicate why they think Mr. Trudeau wishes to stay on as prime minister and Liberal leader, despite his support waning.

On this question, 47 percent of respondents said it was because he “likes to be Prime Minister and does not want to leave.” Meanwhile, 23 percent said he has more policies he would like to implement, 18 percent said there are no suitable politicians to replace him, and 15 percent said he wants to face off against Mr. Poilievre in the next election.

When asked about the Quebec poll numbers outside Parliament on May 29, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he was “not paying attention to poll numbers right now.”

“We’re at least a year away from elections. A lot can happen between now and then,” he said.

“I know that Conservatives are paying a lot of attention to polls. We’re paying a lot of attention to Canadians.”

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also said he was not concerned with poll numbers. He pointed to an Abacus poll from a week earlier, conducted May 16 to 21, which indicated that the Bloc had 38 percent support in Quebec while the Liberals had 26 percent and the Conservatives had 21 percent in that province.

“One poll is not better than another one, so we [should] avoid creating stories to get more people watching a TV show when there is nothing else behind it,” he said.