Canadian values shifting to the right, poll suggests

by Tonda MacCharles — March 12, 2010

OTTAWA—The Canadian political “centre” is shifting to the right, a new national poll suggests.

A Harris-Decima survey for the Manning Centre, says Canadians who identify themselves as in the centre of the political ideological scale are increasingly embracing traditionally “conservative” values.

Those include the “supremacy of the family,” an incremental approach to resolving problems, the definition of marriage and that abortion is “morally wrong.”

Pollsters Allan Gregg and Andre Turcotte said that most believe governments should play a minor role or no role in the regulation of individual behaviour and morality.

As for conservative government policies, the poll suggested a majority of Canadians supported spending deficits, abolishing the long gun registry, action on climate change, the decision to leave Afghanistan in 2011, and management of the economic recession.

Gregg said there is an “ambivalence” among Canadians toward more notionally conservative views about the role of government in society.

A majority of Canadians still “cling to the idea that government has a role in managing the economy.”

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Source:The Toronto Star