Poll shows 63 percent voter support for NDP-Liberal coalition if minority election result

by Stephen Hui on August 14th, 2015 at 11:20 AM

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Last month, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau shot down the idea of a NDP-Liberal coalition to stop the Conservatives from governing should the ruling party only win a minority in the October 19 federal election.

NDP MP Nathan Cullen floated the idea in an interview with the Georgia Straight, generating national media interest.

According to a new poll, most Canadian voters lean toward Cullen's position.

The Ipsos poll, conducted for Global News, suggests that 63 percent of voters support (30 percent strongly, 33 percent somewhat) "the Liberals and NDP cooperating together to form a government to prevent the Conservatives from governing again" in a minority government situation.

Meanwhile, 36 percent of voters oppose (21 percent strongly, 15 percent somewhat) such cooperation.

Many NDP (86 percent) and Liberal (84 percent) voters expressed support for cooperation between their parties.

Ipsos also asked voters who would make the best prime minister.

Thomas Mulcair came out on top with 34 percent. Stephen Harper was just behind at 32 percent. Justin Trudeau was the top choice of 28 percent.

Six percent didn't know who to pick.

The telephone and online poll of 2,022 Canadians eligible to vote was conducted August 7 to 10, and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Comments

7 Comments

ursa minor

Aug 14, 2015 at 1:24pm

If Trudeau doesn't want to lead a coalition, and Mulcair doesn't want to lead a coalition, the best thing to do would be to let the coalition (sitting NDP and Liberal MPs) choose their own leader from their combined ranks.

Such a move would go a long way into restoring the authority of Parliament in the face of an overgrown and overbearing Prime Ministers Office. The PM is supposed to be 'First Among Equals', not an omnipotent chief executive similar to a U.S. President.

It would be poetic justice to see Stephen Harper, who claims affinity to this country's British heritage, brought low by a return to actual British Parliamentary tradition.

James Blatchford

Aug 14, 2015 at 2:21pm

ursa minor - or let Lizzie May come up with a solution....as you know, the Green Party has a solution for EVERYTHING (gag).

out at night

Aug 15, 2015 at 10:33am

So if the Conservatives won a minority (shudder, gulp, gag) then the NDP and Liberals would have to engineer a somewhat hostile takeover of the government (still allowable under parliamentary rules but not easy, guaranteed to succeed or even likely to occur). But if either the NDP or Liberals won a minority then a coalition would appear far more palatable to Canadians in general, appear more fair, and would be more likely to occur (I think).

The best reason to form a formal coalition under the latter circumstance would be that a clear governing agreement by the Libs and NDP would effectively rule out having the Liberals side with the Conservatives on any important legislative votes (like a budget) thus leading to a new election call (which could possibly be a huge win for the Conservatives as they'd undoubtedly mine it for everything its worth).

So for me it comes down to this: can Justin Trudeau be trusted to keep the country from being smashed to bits or would he actually go ahead and vote with the Conservatives on some big, important bill following a minority win by the NDP? I'm not sure, but I'd be much happier to see him sign a coalition agreement. That guy still hasn't convinced me he's a straight shooter.

Amanda

Aug 15, 2015 at 1:33pm

In all honesty, if all leaders (May, Mulcair, and Trudeau) were actually serious about making Canada a better place, they'd form a coalition to completely oust the Conservatives out of power.

Keeping this a fight between 4 parties is only hurting the rest of Canada.

Posie Parker

Aug 15, 2015 at 2:52pm

Or if neither Mulcair nor Trudeau will let the other lead the coalition, why not let Elizabeth May do it?

deathtokoalas

Aug 16, 2015 at 2:52pm

voters seem to be rather naive about where to position the liberals in the spectrum. polls such as this don't help, as they plant seeds. they should also ask what their opinion on a liberal-conservative coalition might be.

in truth, that is a far more likely outcome.