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Voters clamour for federal majority

Dissatisfied with successive minorities

By: Jennifer Ditchburn

Posted: 07/13/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA -- Minority-government fatigue seems to be setting in with voters. A new poll shows a spike in the number of Canadians who are pining for the days of federal majorities, and who might vote strategically in order to avoid the fourth straight minority in the next election.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey showed 64 per cent of respondents prefer a majority over a minority government, up from 52 per cent two years ago.

Only 24 per cent said they preferred a minority, as compared to 36 per cent in 2007.

"What people went in with the hopes of was that it would help facilitate more coalition-building and more consensus-building within the parties, but in practice what it has yielded is more conflict with the parties and less getting done," Jeff Walker, senior vice-president at Harris-Decima, said.

The pollsters gave respondents four scenarios to ponder: A Liberal majority or minority, or a Conservative majority or minority.

The Liberals came out on top in both respects -- with 30 per cent preferring a Liberal majority, and 14 per cent a Liberal minority, as compared to the 24 per cent who backed a Conservative majority and nine per cent who wanted a Conservative minority.

Walker said the results are an indication that the Liberals are the second choice for a majority of Canadian voters, and that could be a significant factor in the next election.

"There has the potential to be more strategic voting in this next election than maybe we've seen in the last couple of elections, with more pressure for there to be a majority government and more of a sense that maybe the minority concept doesn't quite work as well as people had hoped," Walker said.

Despite the apparent weariness with minority governments, the poll suggested that slightly more Canadians -- 45 per cent versus 42 per cent -- would support the idea of a coalition government after the next election.

The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois formed a short-lived coalition late last year as they threatened to bring down Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

Harper successfully prorogued Parliament before a non-confidence vote was possible.

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted July 2-5 and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 13, 2009 A4

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