More than half of Canadians believe Conservative economic plan not a success: poll

Forum Research poll finds 21 per cent of Canadians think Economic Action Plan, which Tory government spent heavily to promote, was effective, while 52 per cent do not.

Thestar.com
Sept. 14, 2015
By Donovan Vincent

A majority of Canadians - 52 per cent - don’t believe the federal Conservatives’ plan for the economy has been a success, a new public opinion poll by Forum Research finds.

Known as the Economic Action Plan, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s government has invested heavily promoting the policy, which has as one of its key features the goal of balancing the federal budget.

The action plan also calls for a low tax approach aimed at creating jobs and growth.

The Forum poll, conducted Sept. 9 and 10, found that fewer than one quarter (23 per cent) agree the action plan has been a success. Twenty five per cent of respondents don’t know if it’s been a success, the poll found.

“This is one case where the government’s reliance on massive advertising campaigns didn’t have the desired effect,” Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said referring to the Conservatives’ efforts to promoting their action plan.

“They have spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars advertising the benefits of t he Economic Action Plan, all, seemingly, to no visible effect,” he added.

About three in 10 poll respondents (29 per cent) said they believe the Liberals have the best plan to jump-start the economy and create growth. The Forum survey found 24 per cent believe the Conservatives have the best plan, while a fifth of respondents (21 per cent) said the NDP has the best plan.

When asked by Forum to cite the reasons for Canada’s “poor economy” the leading reasons given were poor government planning (25 per cent of respondents) a downturn in the global economy (21 per cent) the crash in world oil prices (19 per cent) and this country’s reliance on energy and its resources (14 per cent).

A large percentage of respondents expressed pessimism that the weak economic climate will improve in the next year. According to the Forum poll, 40 per cent expect things to stay the same.

Twenty-five per cent expect the economy to get worse - the same percentage of respondents who say they expect things to get better.

Ten per cent told Forum they don’t now if the economy will stay the same, get better, or worse.
The poll surveyed 1,308 randomly selected Canadian adults, and the results are considered accurate plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.