Poll suggests Tory fortunes fading

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA — A new poll suggests Stephen Harper's post-election surge in popularity has dissipated and dimmed his chances of turning his minority government into a majority.

The prime minister's Conservatives lost ground in the country's two crucial battlegrounds, Ontario and Quebec, according to the Decima poll made exclusively available to The Canadian Press.

The Decima results arrive like a bucket of ice water amid fevered speculation that Harper will try to engineer the defeat of his government this fall over the softwood lumber deal.

Harper has said the agreement, aimed at ending the longstanding softwood trade dispute with the United States, will be put to a vote in House of Commons in October. He has declared it will be a confidence vote, meaning the government will fall if a majority of MPs vote against the deal.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1153997648957&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Drip, drip, drip, drip....

[tuvor]

1. Unhatched chickens counted, corner painted into...

He cannot take a chance on losing the softwood lumber vote. Not if he wants a decent crack at a majority.

I think I can deal with the prospect.

[Bragi]

2. Please let it be true /eom

[daleo]

3. For once, I won't question a poll's validity.

"Decima found support for all the parties had returned to almost exactly the same levels that produced the Conservative minority last January.

Nationally, the Conservatives had the support of 36 per cent, the Liberals 30 per cent and the New Democrats 17 per cent."

Wait a minute - this still seems too high for Harper.

[Spazito]

4. This is very good news....

I am not surprised but am very pleased. I also noted the dates this was taken, "The telephone survey of 1,009 Canadians was conducted July 20-23, amid controversy over Harper's unequivocal support for Israel's bombardment of Lebanon despite the rising civilian death toll."

It looks like his mishandling of the Lebanon crisis and his total inability to read Canadians is showing up. His numbers may even worsen when they poll after the UN bombing and his cold disregard for the death of a Canadian peacekeeper and the circumstances behind it.

[glarius]

5. Best news I've heard in many days!

Keep dropping you slimy creep Harper. God, I can't stand that man. There's just something about that I'm so much smarter than all of you and it's such a pain to have to deal with you attitude of his that just drives me mad!

[HEyHEY]

6. I can't wait to talk to my dad about this one.

[Bragi]

7. Blogging Tories Not All Over This: Odd?

I see the Blogging Tories seem slow off the mark in discussing this poll. Odd.

See http://www.bloggingtories.ca/

And Neale News, the flagship Canadian neocon news aggregator, hasn't yet included this story in its headline listings. Odd, no?

See http://www.nealenews.com/

: )

- B

[Spazito]

8. Quite the opposite, imo...

They would only have "good" polls on their sites, bad news is ignored in hopes it goes away. It tends to happen on all sides.