Three-quarters of Canadians surveyed believe Prime Minister Mark Carney should press forward with his economic changes without seeking another election mandate, feeling there is no time to waste as the trade war with the United States drags on.
A new Canada Pulse Insights poll of just over 1,500 Canadians shows 73 per cent want Carney to move ahead with fast-tracking infrastructure projects, relaxing certain environmental reviews, altering labour strike rules and pursuing closer economic ties with Europe. That support is strong all across the country with 83 per cent in British Columbia, 77 per cent in Quebec, 73 per cent in Atlantic Canada, 71 per cent in Ontario, 67 per cent in Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 65 per cent in Alberta.
Just over a quarter believe that the changes proposed are so big that the Prime Minister should call a federal election to seek a fresh mandate. Among Conservative voters, 53 per cent want him to call an election while 47 per cent say Carney should press ahead with his plans.
“The appetite for an election is simply not there and Mark Carney currently has a mandate to continue doing what he is doing,” said John Wright, CEO of Canada Pulse Insights.
If that election were held, the poll finds the Liberals with 46 per cent support nationally compared to 34 per cent for the Conservatives. The NDP have nine per cent support with the Bloc Quebecois at six per cent and the Green Party with three per cent. One in 10 eligible voters say they are undecided.
Of note, 15 per cent of those who voted Conservative in the 2025 election now say they would vote for the Liberals while only two per cent of Liberal voters say they would switch allegiance.
“They’ve lost a lot of members, they’ve lost byelections that have been called, and in fact if you take a look at these results from a national perspective, the government would come in with a huge majority,” explained Wright. “But what’s changed is this; Older people are more likely to support the Conservative party. That group of people are now sitting with Mark Carney.”
The Liberals maintain double-digit support over the Conservatives in Atlantic Canada (65 per cent to 24 per cent), British Columbia (52 per cent to 27 per cent), Ontario (48 per cent to 38 per cent) and Quebec (39 per cent to 27 per cent). The gap is much closer in Alberta, where the Conservatives lead 46 per cent to 41 per cent, and in Saskatchewan/Manitoba, with 42 per cent support for the Conservatives and 38 per cent for the Liberals.
“He travels across this country,” says Wright in explaining the strong support Carney enjoys across Canada. “In most urban centres, you’re going to have the Liberals doing better than they do in the outer parts of the cities but provincewide, in almost every region we looked at, the Liberals dominate.”
The survey was conducted among 1,531 Canadian adults using an online panel from October 1-8, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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