- Liberals Backing Mark Carney Buoyed By Polling – He Is Increasing Party’s Lead, But Still Being Out Polled by Pierre Poilievre
By Andrew Macdonald
Liberals backing federal leadership contender Mark Carney are buoyed by opinion polling now showing the federal Liberals have increased their polling numbers. But, the Grits are still way behind Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre.
338canada.com, which aggregates different polling company numbers has the Tory leader down four per cent – but the Tory lead is still substantial. The election polling website shows the Poilievre team at a commanding lead of 43 per cent.
The Liberals are up four per cent since Justin Trudeau announced he will resign as PM on March 9th, 2025, when federal Liberals vote on his successor to lead the party and become PM.
The NDP is at 17 per cent, down three per cent, according to 338canada.com.
The poll aggregator says Nova Scotians will elect eight Tory MPs and just three Liberals – in 2015, the Liberals took at 11 NS seats.
On Jan 27th, 2025, a poll from the Angus Reid Institute also found Liberal fortunes have been renewed because of the prospect of Mark Carney winning the race. Ottawa media have dubbed him as the frontrunner. He is a former Bank of Canada Governor.
The Reid poll report was headlined: “Leadership race renews interest in Liberals – particularly under Carney – but Conservative Party of Canada still leads comfortably”.
“CPC support remains at pre-Trudeau-resignation levels, more than two-in-five still prefer that party,” reports Reid.
“The Liberal leadership race is still in its early days, but it is renewing interest in the party among voters, especially with the prospect of Mark Carney as leader,” adds Reid.
“The former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney appears to have an advantage among prospective voters over his main rival in the contest, former Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. That said, both still have to contend with Liberal Party members and make their case to be the next leader, and both still trail the opposition Conservative Party by a double-digit margin,” notes Reid.
Former central banker Mark Carney said during a press conference for his Liberal leadership campaign in Halifax that Canada could improve its negotiating position with the U.S. by strengthening the domestic economy and cultivating other potential trading partners where possible — an approach that echoes an already-underway expansion of business development efforts in the Asia-Pacific region by Global Affairs Canada. (The Notebook).
“New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds vote intention more favourable to the Liberals with Carney as leader than Freeland by about six points. With Carney at the helm, 43 per cent say they would vote for the CPC, while 29 per cent would support the Liberals. With Freeland the CPC lead grows to 44% compared to Freeland at 24%,” reports the poll.
“Before his resignation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals had fallen to 16 per cent.”
In a roughly one-hour speech in Dartmouth in 2024, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre promised to ease restrictions on new pipeline projects and defund the CBC, adding one of his favoured applause lines about converting the public broadcaster’s headquarters into affordable housing. (The Notebook, Avery Mullen).
