Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s political honeymoon continues nearly 16 months after he assumed the office, thanks in part of his proactive efforts at building trade relations.
Carney, in fact, outperformed the ruling Liberal Party in terms of popularity, according to new poll from the agency Nanos Research for the outlet CTV News.
The data released on Tuesday showed that Carney remained the preferred Prime Minister with 56% support with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre garnering just 18.4% backing.
Overall, however, the Liberals have a narrower, though still sizeable lead over the opposition, with 47.1% support as against 27.9% for the Conservatives.
The survey results came as by-elections to three House of Commons seats are scheduled for August 31.
Nanos Research founder and chief data scientist Nik Nanos told CTV that Carney has “had a prolonged honeymoon because he’s been so proactive and he’s been so busy out there trying to build trade relationships and attract investment in Canada”.
There is “no obvious challenger” to Carney at this time among the opposition ranks, the pollster felt. Strangely enough, those surveyed felt that former prime minister Stephen Harper, who led the country from 2006 to 2015, had a stronger chance of contending against Carney than the current Conservative leader Poilievre.
While it was not mentioned by Nanos, among the trade relations Carney has been focused on is that with India, with negotiations towards a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) on schedule to be completed by December this year. That deadline has been set by Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who formally launched negotiations at their bilateral meeting in New Delhi in March.
{{/usCountry}}While it was not mentioned by Nanos, among the trade relations Carney has been focused on is that with India, with negotiations towards a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) on schedule to be completed by December this year. That deadline has been set by Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who formally launched negotiations at their bilateral meeting in New Delhi in March.
{{/usCountry}}Such a deal has become important for both countries as they face uncertain negotiations towards their trade arrangements with the US under President Donald Trump.