OTTAWA - A new poll suggests Canadians prefer Conservatives over Liberals when it comes to leadership and most major issues -- even though that preference has not translated into popular support for the governing party.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests 43 per cent of Canadians think the Tories, with Stephen Harper at the helm, have the best leader to be prime minister.
Only 22 per cent of those polled picked the Liberals, led by Stephane Dion.
Moreover, the Tories came out well ahead of the Liberals when respondents were asked which party is best equipped to deal with the economy (40 per cent to 22 per cent), taxes (41 per cent to 20 per cent) and crime (39 per cent to 18 per cent).
They also enjoyed a smaller two- to three-point advantage over the Liberals on foreign affairs, energy and health care.
When asked generally which party cares most about the issues closest to respondents' hearts, respondents favoured the Tories 35 per cent to 32.
The survey respondents preferred the Liberals over the Tories on only two issues: the environment (36 per cent to 24) and poverty (32 per cent to 25).
That appears to reflect Dion's summer-long campaign to promote his so-called Green Shift -- a complicated climate-change plan that would impose a carbon tax on fossil fuels, offset by income- and business-tax cuts and tax benefits to the poor, elderly and rural dwellers. The plan includes measures aimed at halving the number of Canadians living in poverty.
Dion has said the green shift will be the centrepiece of the Liberals' platform for the next election campaign. But the poll results suggest he may be in danger of being seen as a one-trick pony.
"I believe that is a definite risk for Dion right now," said a Harris-Decima senior vice-president, Jeff Walker.
Although Liberals tout The Green Shift as an economic plan, as well as a plan for tackling climate change, Walker said it appears to be seen primarily as an environmental initiative thus far and that's "too narrow a definition."
"Especially in this (weakening) economy, people need to know and hear that there's some plan for the economy."
Despite the Conservatives' advantage on the economy and other issues of importance to voters, the most recent Harris-Decima survey suggests the Tories remain mired in a virtual tie with the Liberals, with 32 per cent and 33 per cent support respectively.
Walker said the Tories appear to be held back by their inability to gain support in urban and suburban Ontario and Quebec, where the Liberals seem to be the "default choice" for voters. But that could change during the course of an election campaign, which could come as early as this fall.
Leadership becomes critically important during a campaign and Harper, having led his party through two elections, is far more experienced than Dion, who is preparing for his first campaign as leader.
Moreover, Walker said the preference Canadians are showing for Conservatives on most issues is really a reflection of the greater trust they have in Harper as a leader.
"Right now Conservatives are very solid in a whole bunch of areas and that's almost a surrogate for leadership. That's why it really will come down to the campaign," he said.
The poll suggests only 14 per cent of Canadians think it's time for an election. Thirty-eight per cent think an election this fall would be "a waste of time" but a plurality -- 41 per cent -- said they can live with the prospect.
The telephone phone poll of just more than 1,000 Canadians was conducted Aug. 7-10 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.
