PM dismisses election talk despite polls
Feb 20, 2007 01:34 PM
Canadian Press
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed speculation he might be eager to force an election after new polls today suggested his Conservatives had taken a lead in public opinion.
A new Decima survey indicated the Tories had made modest gains for two straight weeks and held a two-percentage-point lead over the Liberals, who had been ahead for months.
While those results fall within the 3.1 per cent margin of error, they reflect a pro-Tory trend detected in several recent surveys.
At a news conference, the prime minister was invited to name any issue – like the environment, or changes to anti-terror legislation – so important to his government that he would label it a confidence matter.
He declined to name any and simply noted that the coming federal budget is obviously a life-and-death matter for the government.
"My view is that we should keep governing, keep getting things done for Canadians," Harper told a news conference alongside Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
"I don't think Canadians want an election, I'm in no hurry to have an election. I simply want to see us move forward."
Harper made the announcement after he and Gates announced money for HIV initiatives. The government will invest up to $111 million and Gates's foundation will pump in up to $28 million more into vaccine research.
The latest public-opinion polls place the Tories well shy of the 40 per cent required for a majority government, but also suggest they have momentum on their side and have overtaken the Liberals.
Decima's results, provided exclusively to The Canadian Press, place the Conservatives at 32 per cent and the Liberals at 30 per cent. The NDP was at 15 per cent, the Green party was at 11 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois was at nine per cent nationally.
Other polls released in recent days suggest the Conservatives have a bigger lead over the Liberals and that Harper has a significant lead in personal popularity over new Liberald leader Stéphane Dion.
In Ontario, the Decima poll suggested the Liberals held a 10 percentage point lead – 40 per cent to 30 per cent for the Tories, while the NDP was at 17 per cent and the Greens were at 12 per cent.
In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois were at 37 per cent, the Liberals were at 25 per cent and the Tories were at 17 per cent. The Greens were at eight per cent and the NDP was at seven.
Decima CEO Bruce Anderson said the Bloc's support is significantly lower than it was before the last election.
"So far, the Liberals appear to be the most likely beneficiaries of softening BQ support," Anderson said.
"But there is the prospect of some three-way splits (with the Tories) developing (in some Quebec ridings) that are impossible to predict at this stage."
The Decima survey of 1,000 Canadians was conducted between Feb. 15 to 18, and has a 3.1 percentage point margin of error 19 times in 20.
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