This is The Week in Polling, your Saturday dose of interesting numbers from top pollsters in Canada and around the world, curated by The Hub. Here’s what we’re looking at this week.
Three-quarters of Canadians want the federal government to bring back Parliament
Source: Angus Reid
Just over three-quarters of Canadians want their Parliament recalled. Of the 77 percent of Canadians who want Parliament to be brought back, 47 percent want it back so that a federal election can be immediately called.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in early January upon his resignation as Liberal leader so that his party could elect a new leader. The party’s leadership election is scheduled for March 9. Meanwhile, Parliament is prorogued until March 24. Trudeau said the prorogation would “turn the temperature down ” and “reset” Parliament.
After Trudeau prorogued Parliament, President Donald Trump threatened to place 25 percent blanket tariffs on Canadian goods. This week, the tariffs were narrowly avoided for 30 days. The reason given was that Canada had conceded to a few of Trump’s demands, like bolstering border security and cracking down on fentanyl trafficking.
Trudeau told Trump on a phone call that Canada is enacting a $1.3-billion border security plan that would reinforce the 49th parallel with new helicopters, technology, and soldiers and would improve its efforts with America to tackle illegal drugs and migrants entering the U.S. The 30-day delay will expire on March 3.
Pierre Poilievre has adamantly called for the House of Commons to return. The Conservative leader has consistently vowed since the prorogation that he would immediately call a vote of non-confidence to bring down the Liberal government and trigger a federal election. However, calls are growing from some on the left to resume Parliament so that a “pandemic-level” relief package could be passed to assist those affected by the Trump tariffs. This week, Poilievre was asked by a journalist if he would “step aside and not compete for the head of the country to allow us to get through this crisis.”
“No, we are not going to suspend democracy,” he replied.
