More than 125,000 views so far for Stephen Harper’s interview on YouTube last week – not quite up to Lady GaGa’s standards, but still decent.
Not all Canadians, however, liked his answers – especially when it came to legalizing pot.
An online poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion found that only two-in-five Canadians or 40 per cent agreed with his statement that if drugs were legalized “these would never be respectable businesses run by respectable people.”
The Angus Reid survey asked Canadians whether they agreed or disagreed with some of the Prime Minister’s statements from the interview. However, the respondents were not told that Mr. Harper had actually made these statements himself.
Angus Reid’s Mario Canseco said they felt it was a “good idea to focus on the message (and not the messenger), and see whether it struck a chord with Canadians.”
The online poll of 1,008 Canadians was conducted between March 18 and March 19. It has a margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
“On drugs, we have seen that a majority of Canadians want to legalize marijuana, but not other hard drugs,” Mr. Canseco said. “The argument of ‘bad people’ running a legal drug trade was not convincing.”
What did resonate with Canadians was Mr. Harper’s answer that there should be a minimum penalty for very serious or repeat crimes.
The poll found 87 per cent of respondents who thought that was an appropriate response. And 75 per cent agreed with his answer on climate change – that it requires a continental approach.
“What we found is that on crime and climate change, people sided with the argument that was put forth,” Mr. Canseco said.
He says climate change is “going through a bit of a transformation.”
Environment has fallen to fourth place – behind economy, health care and unemployment – in important issues facing Canadians.
“After Copenhagen, we saw that the level of skepticism about man-made climate change grew slightly, not just in Canada but also in the U.S. and Britain.
“Canada has not become, as some would say, a ‘climate change denier,’ but there are other issues that are seen as more pressing right now.”
The other topic that didn’t go over well with Canadians, according to the poll, was on the issue of Senate reform.
Only 20 per cent agreed with the Prime Minister’s view that “since Senators cannot currently be elected, most Senators should belong to the party that won the last federal election.”
(Photo: Jason Ransom/PMO)
