by marian scott
the federal government’s handling of covid-19 will be the determining factor in how four out of 10 canadians vote in monday’s federal election, a recent léger poll suggests.
that proportion has declined slightly since the start of the election campaign, when half of voters said it would be the determining factor, said jack jedwab, president and ceo of the association for canadian studies, which commissioned the survey.
other issues have since arisen, like
gun control
,
housing affordability
,
climate change
and, in quebec,
a controversy over a question in the english debate denounced as quebec bashing
, he noted.
anti-vaccine protests have disrupted the campaign, with demonstrators shouting profanities and
hitting liberal leader justin trudeau with gravel
two weeks ago.
in july, a léger poll showed the conservative party leading among unvaccinated canadians, with 40 per cent of voter intentions, jedwab said.
many anti-vaxxers appear to have shifted to the people’s party of canada, he said. that party had the support of 15 per cent of unvaccinated canadians in july and has probably doubled its support among that group, he said.
three-quarters of canadians have received at least one dose of the vaccine.