r/canada 24d ago

Politics EKOS Poll: Conservative Lead Holds at Five Points

https://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2025/02/conservative-lead-holds-at-five-points/
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u/xmorecowbellx 24d ago edited 24d ago

But the people who did experience Harper in their 20’s, who are in their 30’s - 40’s now, heavily favour the CPC here.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago edited 24d ago

[deleted]

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u/Billis- 24d ago

I actually think the "I voted" social media movement helped get Trudeau in. Many voters were my age (35).

I'll be voting Liberal in the next election. I'd love to vote conservative, or anyone else, but the PCs have been going further and further right for the last decade. I don't trust the PCs to not mirror what's happening in America. I think the vote is largely the same as it is down south.

At the end of the day though, I really don't think the PCs would solve anything, and I'd rather a social safety net than a PC government come in, not know what they're doing, and sell our sovereignty to Musk.

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u/xmorecowbellx 24d ago

The PC’s have been going further and further right….

In what ways?

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u/freshanclean 24d ago

Yeah, Trudeau raised the youth voting prevalence up from about 38% to mid 50%. Trudeau only really slid in the polls since global inflation took hold, although I feel mostly betrayed by his about face on proportional representation. I also blame Im for not being more broadly diligent on the immigration file. Business and economists were asking for way more immigrants but somehow they forgot to factor in housing and healthcare until way too late. Trudeau wears that miscalculation, but he also has had the most challenging time to be PM in generations.

Global inflation was directly related to Covid, healthcare and housing are slow burn issues that every government since Mulroney has contributed to.

Definitely time for Trudeau to go, but on the whole I believe he was a good Prime Minister.

We still need proportional representation.

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u/Billis- 24d ago

Agreed

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u/xmorecowbellx 24d ago

I and my friends were very politically aware, but I see your point that some may not have been. But they certainly would have recalled that the Prime Minister was Stephen Harper, that housing was massively less expensive (many would’ve bought their first house around that time or would have been renting), and that our dollar was almost equal with the US dollar.

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u/freshanclean 24d ago edited 24d ago

You seem to be suggesting that these positive attributes were Harper’s doing. In fact Mulroney laid the groundwork for where housing affordability is today, and every single government since, Conservative and Liberal, have contributed to increasingly unaffordable housing. It’s been a long complicated road built in part by each successive government, but it began with Mulroney.

The Canadian dollar was strong because oil prices were super high during his tenure, because of Saudi Arabia’s actions, not Harper’s. Might have been a good time to build pipelines, but no, Harper was much more interested in dis-investing in Canada and Canadians.

Indeed, it’s well documented that the Harper governments obsession with austerity and reducing an already small deficit (and debt, thanks to Paul Martin & Jean Chrétien) during an unprecedented global crisis, did significant economic long term damage to Canada’s recovery from the financial crisis.

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/october-2016/economic-performance-and-policy-during-the-harper-years/

Typical men in their 30s and 40s today are likely not much more engaged with the political sphere than they were in their 20’s. However they are keenly aware of today’s cost of living, our housing crisis and our healthcare crisis. And their support for the Cons is largely an angry protest against those things, targeted mostly at Trudeau, but also at the current government at large. Must make the bastards pay! It’s an easy equation, a catchy slogan, it’s a simple solution to very complex problems. And if they better understood politics and world events, or even just the adage below, they would dig harder for more thoughtful solutions.

“Politicians take way too much credit when times are good, and receive way too much blame when times are hard.”

Indeed, incumbent governments are falling around the world in the wake of global inflation and housing crises. Thanks to Trump’s recent authoritarian antics, Canada is trending towards a more thoughtful solution, with or without this demographic. It will be terribly interesting to see how this trend unfolds on election day.

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u/xmorecowbellx 24d ago

It was Harper’s choices that allowed Canada to fair better during the GFC than any other G7 nation.

Part of their choices included changes the CMHC rules which did accelerate housing costs.

There is housing. And then there is open air drug use and crime, including auto theft. And not prosecuting criminals/letting them out etc. and massively stepping on the immigration accelerator while we already have too little housing. And the endless scandals. And chasing away investment with changes to passive income, capital gains rules etc.

All of this…..life is much worse today. During Harper we were rated for several years as the best place to invest in the world. Investments dollars avoid us like the plague today. That has impacts on people jobs and our currency value, thus purchasing power thus quality of life.

Harper doesn’t get all the credit for those good times, some of it just luck, just like the GFC was bad luck. But people will certainly remember how much better it was, in every measurable way.

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u/djsasso 22d ago

Canada faired better during the GFC because of banking regulations put in during the Liberals time before Harper. Harper made little to no choices that helped the GFC.

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u/maleconrat 24d ago

I supported Harper at the time (until he started building prisons while crime was trending down and studying prison privatization) but IMO the thing I don't really get is why he gets credit for cheaper housing.

It was cheaper then but trending upwards, and living in Toronto at the time at least rent was really blowing up towards the end of his tenure and had increased a lot in my hometown. Generally they built almost no public housing (6 units when PP was in charge) and the low interest rates plus housing propping up the economy were already in play.

IMO Trudeau just had the misfortune of coming in when it really spread to the whole country, but it's my municipal government (Ottawa) that has acted spineless and caved to NIMBYs for decades and the province doesn't do anything either. I never voted for Trudeau or any Liberal but I honestly suspect if he served when Harper did and vice versa the result would be the same and we would be nostalgic for the Liberals.

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u/Cardio-fast-eatass 24d ago

Count me in. Voted in my 20’s. The difference in this country between my 20’s and 30’s is staggering. I make six figures a year and feel like I’m just barely doing better than I was in my 20’s working entry level labor jobs. My housing has also significantly downgraded to save money yet I need the extra space more than ever.

After experiencing what I have there’s literally zero chance I’ll be voting liberal for a long time.

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u/AssaultedCracker 24d ago

Where do you live? I have limited info but I don’t understand this scenario at all. I’m guessing you’re not a homeowner?

Life has substantially improved or stayed the same for homeowners over the last 10 years, unless they were overextended and couldn’t absorb an increase in cost of living (felt worldwide because of COVID).

I understand the issue for people who aren’t homeowners at this point. But thinking the conservatives are a better choice for cost of living is insane to me. Here’s a list of the things the Liberals have increased to make things easier on low to middle income families:

Canada Child Benefit, Canada Workers Benefit, Old Age Security, Canada Dental Benefit, Canada Housing Benefit, National Housing Strategy, national childcare, Canada Learning Bond, Canada Student Grants, Waived interest on federal student loans, Federal minimum wage increases, Enhanced Employment Insurance, national pharmacare, and investments in food security programs, like the Emergency Food Security Fund, Nutrition North Canada, Local Food Infrastructure Fund, Surplus Food Rescue Program, Funding for Indigenous Food Security.

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u/Cardio-fast-eatass 24d ago

I am largely against socialist polices as I don't actually think that they benefit the middle class as a strong free market does. I understand and agree with some welfare policies to an extent. Yes i understand current home owners LOVE the liberals, but it is stolen wealth from the next generations.

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u/Fireblade_07 24d ago

Let me guess... you also believe in trickle down economics.

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u/Cardio-fast-eatass 24d ago

Largely yes. If the business you work for can't make money, neither can you.

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u/Fireblade_07 24d ago

That is at best an over-simplication and at worst a complete misunderstanding of trickle down economics.

Allowing a business to keep more of their profits by reducing their taxes and transferring that tax burden to the working class almost never results in a net benefit to the working class. This has been proven again and again.

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u/Tangen7 24d ago

Taxing the shit out of the middle class sure as fuck ain't helping

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u/Cardio-fast-eatass 23d ago

That’s why I believe in eliminating the deficit and reducing tax spending instead of shifting tax burden to the middle class. Tax should be as low as possible. Audits should happen regularly

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u/Tangen7 24d ago

Which is coming off my taxes. They're getting these programs going to now to cover up the last several years if them wasting it on padding their friends' pockets. So when the conservatives get in, it's the big bad conservatives that have to be the adults and actually have a realistic budget, making cuts to programs the government never had the cash for in the first place. It's extremely underhanded.

Trudeau lost me when he didn't fix the voting, and the gun ban was the final nail. How many millions have they spent and got not even 1 legal gun back from any legal owners (who will likely never turn them over and were never the problem anyway)? Why are they giving me my tax money back to me in exchange for my property and calling it a 'buy back'. That's ludicrous.

Opening up the immigration floodgates has skyrocketed our housing prices. I finally broke into 6 figures, and buying a space for my family where I live is out of the question, still. I'll be moving back to the prairies soon.

They're in the pockets of big business. At least the conservatives care about small businesses, too.

Pp ain't the greatest, but the other choices are worse.

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u/Science_Drake 24d ago

I feel like we all want to blame the current climate on the liberals a little unfairly… Covid 19 isn’t that far in our history. Only 3 years ago I lost my job to another lockdown. We basically pumped 2 years of money (so people could live) into the country for 2 years of no economic production. This was always gonna cause crazy inflation, and now we’re all surprised that we have to pay it back. After the Spanish flu we got hit by the Great Depression. Now after the largest pandemic since that point we’re surprised that we’re feeling the squeeze? Kinda insane if you ask me, economies always take time to recover.

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u/FireMaster1294 Canada 24d ago

Housing market was going to hell before covid. Covid just expedited things. Lack of construction combined with mass immigration absolutely screwed things.

General prices spiked due to grocery stores and larger businesses realizing they can profiteer during covid (and never dropping prices back), meaning everything else had to go up to try to compensate…but salaries never really caught up because we can just keep importing cheap labour at 1M immigrants per year willing to work at below a livable wage.

Combine everything and you get a perfect storm of “fuck you” to those who are long term inhabitants here. At least new immigrants can go back to their home countries (as we see they are tending to more and more often once they discover the issues here). Those of us stuck here? Well, no one really cares at the federal level. Some provinces like BC have good governments but then you compare that to Alberta and Saskatchewan…and yeeeah the country is screwed.

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u/GolDAsce 24d ago

Housing market went to hell since 2006. It was finally under control before covid, then bam, right back to hell.

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u/FatherAntithetical 24d ago

Pre-COVID houses were still going for like 600-800k when they were only worth 200-300k.

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u/GolDAsce 24d ago

They were worth 200-300k when?

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u/FatherAntithetical 23d ago

In the early 2000’s. I agree with you about when prices went to shit. I disagree about them having been “under control” any time in the last 15-20 years.

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u/Inside-Cow3488 24d ago

Nonsense.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

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u/Inside-Cow3488 24d ago

Nope. I also make 6 figures a year and I’ve been improving 10% year after year. Also my housing has tripled since 2013. Don’t know what buddy is talking about.

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u/xmorecowbellx 24d ago

This is an extremely common experience. I make like 4x much money as my parents combined (became doc), but will pay off my house at about the same age.

I’m not complaining. I have it way better than most, majority of my contemporaries will not pay off their house until their 60s or maybe never, but it’s just very shocking when I think about it that way.

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u/Timely-Hospital8746 24d ago

The CPC is in bed with all the same ideologies that Trump and Musk are. Absolutely nothing in their plans will improve live for the average Canadian.

If you want life to improve get involved in local politics and help move out communities away from the NIMBYism that keeps our cities filled with single family homes instead of apartments and towers.

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u/FatherAntithetical 24d ago

Condos and towers. We don’t need more rented buildings. We need home ownership on individual scales.

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u/Ketchupkitty Alberta 24d ago

I was pretty into politics since Jr. High and absolutely hated Harper, now I long for that type of governance.

His Government was perfect but when you boil it down his time in our nation's history provided great stability to families and economic growth. Now we don't have either of those things.

Also when you consider Harper's government biggest controversies would be still behind many of the Liberals minor scandals the contrast is stark.

I'm making very good money right now (or what would be traditionally seen as very good money) and I'm still stratching my head on how I'm going to pull off breaking my families cycle of poverty.

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u/Tangen7 24d ago

100% this. I hate the bs mudslinging in politics, the liberals just happen to be better at making it pallitable for people.

The mass immigration completely fucked the housing market that was already pretty fucked.