Trudeau and party have only one way to go — up
TORONTO: One year ago, Justin Trudeau led his Liberal Party to a surprising majority in the Canadian Federal elections. If the Canadian Prime Minister were to call
TORONTO: One year ago, Justin Trudeau led his Liberal Party to a surprising majority in the Canadian Federal elections. If the Canadian Prime Minister were to call a snap election now, he could well capture a supermajority in the House of Commons. Over the last 12 months, not only has the honeymoon period persisted, his romance with the voting public has grown stronger.

On October 19 last year, the Liberals captured 184 of the 338 seats in the lower House, equivalent of the Lok Sabha, while tallying approximately 40% of the vote share. According to a new poll from the Toronto-based Forum Research, if elections were held today, that percentage would rise to 49, translating into a whopping 240 seats.
Trudeau, the face of the party, is spurring this gain in popularity. “That’s a big factor. His personal approval rating is even higher. At 56 %, he’s actually ahead of his party,” Forum Research’s president and founder Lorne Bozinoff told HT. This latest poll had a sample size of 1437 and was conducted over October 11 and 12.
And this is a countrywide trend, not limited to Liberal bastions, as Bozinoff pointed out, “It’s high in just about every demographic group in the country, it’s high in just about every region of the country.”
There are exceptions in Conservative strongholds, but even there the numbers are impressive for a Liberal. In fact, in places like the province of Ontario, where the regional unit of the party is floundering, the Federal Liberals are above 50 % in support.
ABOUT THE AUTHORAnirudh BhattacharyyaAnirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb.Read More

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