01-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Poll reveals who is Canada's most popular premier and who is most disliked
As first ministers gather against the backdrop U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war, a new poll suggests Alberta's Danielle Smith has the highest negatives of any premier.
The
Pollara Strategic Insights survey
also found Ontario's Doug Ford is the country's most popular premier — thanks largely to his stance against Trump's tariffs.
'It's probably that she's been offside on the Team Canada approached to Trump — at least in some people's opinions — and she has raised the spectre of an Alberta referendum, which is obviously not going to be well received outside of Alberta,' Dan Arnold, Pollara's chief strategy officer, said Friday.
'She's potentially looming as a bit of a foil on the national stage,' said Arnold of Smith, who has publicly sparred with Ford over national unity and how to deal with the mercurial American president.
Smith — who stressed she does not personally support separation — maintained she will hold a
The Ontario premier, on the other hand, has been working closely with Prime Minister Mark Carney and has emerged 'as a bit of a national statesmen in some respects,' the pollster noted.
'Ford's national profile and popularity have really come from ... the 'Canada Is Not For Sale' hat and his tone against Trump,' he said.
Using online panels, Pollara surveyed 3,400 people across the country May 16-20. While opt-in polls cannot be assigned a margin of error, for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have one of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The firm found 47 per cent of respondents had a positive impression of Ford while 27 per cent had a negative one for a net rating of +19 per cent.
In Ontario, the premier, who was reelected Feb. 27 with a third consecutive majority, has a +12 per cent ranking while outside his home province he is at +23 per cent.
'By taking the Captain Canada cape and running with it, he has built up that national profile,' said Arnold.
At the other end of the popularity scale, 19 per cent had a positive impression of Smith with 29 per cent negative for a net rate of -10 per cent.
In Alberta, where she is dealing with a health contracts scandal and a possible referendum on secession, she was at -5 per cent and was at -12 per cent in the rest of the country.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has a +51 per cent rating at home and +16 per cent in other provinces.
Quebec's François Legault, who polls suggest faces a challenging election next year, was at -10 per cent at home and +1 per cent outside his province.
The Pollara poll comes as the recently elected Carney is meeting with first ministers in Saskatoon to discuss removing interprovincial trade barriers and expediting construction of 'nation-building projects' like pipelines, mines, ports and energy infrastructure to offset the impact of Trump's tariffs.
'Given that Carney's got Alberta roots ... I think for the next year or two that could be the interesting struggle in our politics — what happens in the midst of a referendum and how does Danielle Smith play in the rest of the country,' said Arnold.
