While speculation has been swirling all summer around whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planning to reset his front bench, new data show Canadians are divided nearly down the middle on whether cabinet shuffles affect how they feel about the government.
According to a recent poll from Nanos Research, Canadians are statistically just as likely to say cabinet shuffles make a difference in how they feel about the government as they are to say they don't.
A combined 49 per cent of respondents said they would categorize a cabinet shuffle as important or somewhat important, versus a combined 48 per cent who say they’re unimportant or somewhat unimportant.
After more than a year of languishing polling numbers, many experts and political strategists have wondered in recent weeks whether Trudeau is planning to shake up his inner circle again before the next general election, slated for October of next year.
The rumours also follow the Liberals' stunning byelection loss in Toronto—St. Paul's in June, plus reporting by The Globe and Mail, also in June, that the Prime Minister's Office was at odds with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Trudeau has also confirmed he’s spoken with former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney about joining the fold in some capacity.
Last year’s significant cabinet shuffle — which saw the majority of ministers take on new roles and seven rookies promoted to the front bench — was framed as renewing focus on housing and affordability.
While women and people in the Prairies are slightly more likely to say cabinet shuffles are either important or somewhat important, men and people in Atlantic Canada are slightly more likely to say they’re unimportant or somewhat unimportant, there is no significant variation in votes according to region, gender or age.
Methodology: Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,035 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between July 29 and Aug. 1, 2024, as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. This study was commissioned by Â鶹´«Ã½ and the research was conducted by Nanos Research.
