Compared to Stephen Harper and Jack Layton, Canadians have little trust in Bob Rae – an indication of the tough rebuilding process he is facing over the next two years.
A new Nanos Research poll shows that only 8.4 per cent of Canadians thought that Mr. Rae, appointed Interim Liberal Leader a month ago, was the most trusted federal party chief. That compares to 32.3 per cent for the Prime Minister and 29.4 per cent for the NDP Leader.
"It's just indicative of the political squeeze that the Liberals are in," pollster Nik Nanos said. "Stephen Harper does very well west of the Ottawa River. Jack Layton does well in Quebec. There is just no room right now for Bob Rae and the Liberals to make a breakthrough."
Mr. Nanos notes, too, the confusion the Liberals may have caused by putting Mr. Rae at the helm give he is closely associated – in the minds of some Canadians – with the New Democrats. The Toronto MP was previously elected both to Parliament and as premier of Ontario for the NDP.
"Picking someone whose past was closely associated with another party who is now eating their lunch might muddle the Liberal rebuilding process," Mr. Nanos said. "Because the more you put Bob Rae out there, for some voters, they're just going to remember …he was once a New Democrat."
This will make it more difficult for Mr. Rae to try to differentiate the Liberals from the other parties, which is critical for the rebuilding process, the pollster added. That said, he has two years to do so, given the party voted last weekend to delay selection of a permanent leader until no later than June, 2013.
What is critical for Mr. Rae now – in order to move his numbers – is to concentrate on policy differentiation, his performance in the House of Commons and ensuring he is leading a proactive opposition party. "No one should expect that it's going to be easy," Mr. Nanos said.
The poll of 1,211 Canadians was conducted between June 16 and 19.
Opposition parties 'don't want the truth' on detainees?
The Harper government is questioning how real the opposition's outrage is over the Afghan detainee documents – this after government officials offered to brief MPs and no one, with the exception of a lone Bloc MP, showed up.
"Their lack of interest in the face of the facts proves the Opposition are only interested in partisan attacks and bickering," strategists in the Prime Minister's Office say in a memo to Tory MPs and supporters. "They don't want the truth."
The memo notes the officials were ready to take opposition MPs through the 12-month process, which they say cost taxpayers $12-million.
"Except, despite the rhetoric, despite the attacks, despite the reckless slandering of our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces by NDP and Liberal MPs, not a single NDP or Liberal MP bothered to show up," the memo says. "Only one independent MP attended."
A PMO official said the independent MP was not Green Party leader Elizabeth May. Instead, it was one of the four Bloc MPs, who are referred to as independents because they do not have official party status.
Four thousand pages were released Wednesday pertaining to the treatment of Afghan detainees after a year-long process in which judges and a panel of opposition MPs were allowed to go through them. The NDP did not participate.
Despite the release of the files, the opposition contends the issue of whether Canadian soldiers knowingly handed over prisoners for torture has not been fully answered. The Conservatives, however, maintain it has.
Liberal spokesman Daniel Lauzon dismissed the Tory rhetoric on MPs not showing up for the briefing. He said Stéphane Dion, the former leader, spent last summer reading nearly 40,000 pages of documents, and "is more familiar with those files than any other parliamentarian."
And he turned it around on the NDP, which did not bother to participate in the screening process. "Why the NDP, who willfully sat-out the year-long process, didn't bother to be briefed is beyond me."
The NDP did not comment when contacted by The Globe.