The Canadian Bazaar
TORONTO: If provincial elections were held in Ontario today, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives would retain power.
Which is great news for the Premier who has been criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A survey of Ontarians by the polling firm Leger shows that 38 per cent voters will vote for the Progressive Conservatives to keep them in power. The party had got 40.5 percent votes in the last elections.
About 28 percent will vote for the opposition New Democratic Party – a slide of 8.4 percent from the last elections when the party got 33.6 percent of the total votes.
The Liberal Party of Ontario will get 20 percent votes – hardly any change from the 19.6 percent it received in the last elections.
The online survey involving 1002 people was conducted from March 18 to March 22.
Despite the deaths of over 7,000 people during the pandemic and repeated lockdowns, 63 per cent of the respondents said Doug Ford did a good job of handling the crisis.
Nearly 55 percent of the respondents also said the Premier handled the economy well during the pandemic.
About 50 percent of the respondents said they have a favourable opinion of the Premier, as against 40 percent for NDP leader Andrea Horwath and 21 percent for Liberal leader Del Duca.
And 49 percent of the respondents said Ontario was heading in the right direction under Ford.
Only 15 percent said Ontario under Ford was headed in the wrong direction.
The survey has a margin of error of ± 3.1 percent.
The next elections in Ontario are due in June 2022.
