After former prime minister Jean Chrétien survived brain surgery this weekend, the current prime minister, Stephen Harper, issued a statement wishing him well.

"Mr. Chrétien, I am sure, will emerge as he always has from every challenge, by winning," Harper said.

I'm sure that Harper had the former prime minister's best interest at heart. But Harper is also smart enough to know that if Chrétien's health takes a turn for the worse and he dies, it could trigger a wave of nostalgia.

And that could conceivably return the federal Liberals to power.

A recent Ekos poll by showed that the Conservatives have fallen below 30 percent for the first time since 2006. Harper's crew came in at just 29.7 percent support.

The Liberals under Michael Ignatieff rose to 28.5 percent, creating a neck-and-neck race.

In a commentary on his site, Ekos head Frank Graves attributed the Conservative drop to the "highly questionable decision to announce the end of the one-in-five long form census".

"Call it the revenge of the propeller heads, but the swift reaction of the educated class suggests they see bigger stakes than simply the 2B Census," Graves wrote. "This may be the latest expression of a real culture conflict over the role of knowledge and expertise in society."

Here in B.C., Harper hasn't won much support from educated voters with his ostrich-like approach to climate change and his government's legal fight against Vancouver's supervised-injection site.

Harper's spin doctors appear to have taken note of Graves's concerns.

This weekend, the federal government Web site's lead story on the home page highlights new spending on science and technology.

The headline reads: "Government of Canada Bolsters Canada's Knowledge Economy".

The announcement came from science minister Gary Goodyear, who initially refused to tell the Globe and Mail last year if he believes in the theory of evolution.

Later, he reversed himself, though his original quote was: “I’m not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don’t think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate.”

In addition to keeping an eye on the science file, Harper might also want to say a prayer for Chrétien's health.

When former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau died on September 28, 2000, the Liberal party benefited from an incredible public outpouring of grief.

Chrétien, a wily political operator, called a snap election less than a month after Trudeau's passing. And on November 27, 2000, the Liberals won their third consecutive majority government.

While Chrétien might not match Trudeau's stature, there are still many voters who recall how well the economy performed during the Chrétien years.

Ignatieff is already trying to exploit this in his public appearances. This message would resonate to an even greater degree if the country were to be grieving the unexpected loss of the former Liberal prime minister.

If Chrétien keeps "winning" on the health front, as Harper so cleverly put it, the Conservatives probably have a better chance of winning the next election.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.