Jobs/Economy Number One Priority for Canadians

Canada overall, compared to its G8 partners, has fared well during the recent recession.  Although some stimulus money was spend on bailing out the auto industry, Canada's banks needed no help.  The Conservative government is also on track to curtail spending and reducing its deficit.   Regardless, Canada can't function in isolation.  The United States is its number on trading partner and the Obama Administration and Congress have not been able to reduce spending and the debt clock keeps clicking having reach $15 Trillion this month.  With the seemingly unmanageable financial crisis in Europe, Canadians are well aware how volatile the economy is, especially the influence of outside sources.  Jobs and the Economy have overtaken Health Care as the number on issue for Canadians, according to a CTV/Nanos poll. 

Canada held an election in May and for the first time, since first elected in 2005, the Conservative government won a majority.  The New Democratic Party (NDP) overtook the Liberals as the official opposition.  For the first time in Canadian history the Liberal Party has been relegated to third party.  The majority of gains for the NDP came from the Province of Quebec, who rejected the BLOC Quebecois in favor of the NDP. 

The latest Nanos poll seems to indicate that the Liberals have gained ground on the NDP and are now in a statistical tie with the New Democrats.  It should be noted that the NDP is concentrating on a leadership campaign, in a quest to replace Jack Layton, who passed away due to cancer earlier this year.

The poll conducted as a telephone survey of 1202 Canadians between the 16th and 21st of November, concluded that   35.6% of Canadians supported the Conservative Party, while 28.1% supported the Liberals, 27.3%  the NDP and 3.9% the Greens (support for the Bloc Québécois rose marginally to 3.9% nationally and 15.9% in Quebec). 

Stephen Harper retains a clear advantage overall in the Nanos Leadership Index (102.4), while interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae is firmly in second ahead of interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel, with respective Leadership Index scores of 43.9 and 24.9.

As a national issue of concern, jobs/the economy has surpassed healthcare (jobs/economy 29.3%, healthcare 22.8%).  Nanos Poll

Below is the the Methodology for the poll and additional results:

Methodology Between November 16th and 21st, Nanos Research conducted a random telephone survey of 1,202 Canadians 18 years of age and older. A random telephone survey of 1,202 Canadians is accurate plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For 938 committed voters, it is accurate plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Results for October 24th, 2011 are from a random telephone survey of 1,202 Canadians conducted between October 20th and 24th, 2011. A random telephone survey of 1,202 Canadians is accurate plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For additional data on specific questions you can visit Nanos Research Website.