12.02.2010 09:19 AM

Popular, Premiers, Polls

In Ontario and British Columbia – the two provinces that implemented a harmonized sales tax (HST) this year – the two premiers have not fully recovered. McGuinty is slightly down from his November 2009 numbers, and Campbell – who announced his retirement as premier before this survey was conducted – is now posting better numbers than the all-time low of nine per cent he experienced in October.

Jean Charest heads to 2011 as the lowest-rated provincial head of government in the country, dropping 11 points in a year marked by political infighting and allegations of corruption. His disapproval rating of 67 per cent is the second highest in Canada, just below the departing Campbell (73%).

What’s it mean? Well, after the HST and other tough decisions, it means I’m pretty surprised – and pleased. “Down slightly” from a year ago is pretty darn good, frankly, given our economic circumstances.

McGuinty [full disclosure: whose caucus I’ve given comms advice], like Chretien, is an asset. And we got a third majority term with Chretien, too, as I recall.

12 Comments

  1. nic coivert says:

    The provincial Liberals have a big cushion. The province has been traditionally Progressive Conservative, and that is what McGuinty is, a red tory. I remember seeing him on the hustings during his first election campaign and he was weak, but he learned quickly, now he’s a political veteran and Hudak is a rookie, he’ll make more mistakes. Dalton has a pretty clean image as well, there’s a little teflon in there.

  2. Lynn Scharf says:

    I miss John Tory!!!!

  3. Michael says:

    Four more years!

  4. Art Williams says:

    Your man Chretien was lucky that the opposition was split. It doesn’t hurt to have a bit of luck in politics though!

    Can McGuinty win again? Quite possibly. The economy in the States is definitely getting better which will help Ontario exports and jobs. The HST will be almost forgotten by then. I suspect that next’s years campaign will mean something and I wouldn’t count out the Liberals.

  5. Kasey says:

    Warren on the hst rebate and the sales property tax rebate for poor old ladies like me….the bank deposit says PROCANADA…would that not lead you to believe you are being sent those rebates from harper…people who are not into politics put governments together…they do not know there are two….all the old ladies are so happy to be getting these rebates from STEVE so they will vote for him…I have written my mpp and dalton and they did not change it…do you know why.

    • Namesake says:

      Wasn’t that the “Offer they can’t refuse” the feds made to BC & ON: that if they implement the HST ASAP, the feds would give them billions in rebates to give to the populace to try to make it revenue-neutral in the transition period until it works it way through the marketplace and prices (theoretically) eventually come down (…because all those taxes that went into all the little pieces of the production & handling along the way have been removed, so next year ‘most everything should be cheaper once the final retailer gets it & offers it for sale). I.e., the rebates ARE federal money.

      • Paul says:

        Yeah right. Prices will come down when hell freezes over. Something tells me that a year from now prices will be the same at best, but most likely due to inflation, with the companies just pocketing any so-called savings that should have “theoretically” been passed on down to us proles.

        This is yet another example of a lying government spinning a tax increase as something that will “create jobs” and be “revenue neutral.” If they were serious about making it revenue neutral I would expect a corresponding reduction in the provincial portion of my income tax in the spring but something tells me that will not be forthcoming either.

  6. John Lennard says:

    How can you possibly argue that a 16% approval rating is good? “Down slightly” from bad is still bad.

  7. David Ross says:

    The ONLY reason Chretien got his three majorities because of a divided right. In Dalton’s case, he now gets mentioned in the same breath as Ontario’s worst Premier Bob Rae. Not a good sign Warren.

  8. Matt Parrott says:

    A divided right didn’t hurt, but don’t blame the Liberals for the inability of the opposition parties to get their act together. Canadians had a democratic election, and could have elected a right wing government if they had been inspired by the opposition. Principled leadership will always be more inspiring than mudslinging and reactionary stunts.

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