Roughly three months into his third consecutive majority mandate, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s championing of Canada in its trade war with the U.S. has helped his star shine brighter. But a majority of poll respondents say the province is on the wrong track.
The latest Ontario Report Card from Leger found that almost half of residents (47 per cent) — and more than half of all men (52 per cent) — approved of the work Ford has done, compared to a third of respondents for NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal boss Bonnie Crombie (33 per cent each). The pollster said Ford’s favourability was about on par with that of B.C. NDP Premier David Eby (51 per cent) and Danielle Smith (44 per cent), leader of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party.
However, the proportion of Ontarians whose opinion of Ford has worsened over the last six months is 27 per cent — compared to just 14 per cent who say it has improved — and 11 per cent of Conservative voters said their feelings toward Ford have deteriorated.
Furthermore, more than half the respondents (51 per cent) said the province is either strongly or somewhat on the wrong track. A paltry four per cent deemed the trajectory as strongly trending in the right direction, and only five per cent of those identifying as Conservative supporters concurred.
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Having one in two people thinking that way is not something to be overlooked, Jennifer McLeod Macey, Leger’s senior vice-president, told National Post.
“When we look at this, we know that the most important issues to Ontarians right now boil down to housing prices and affordability (18 per cent), closely followed by health care (17 per cent), which, of course, rises in some regions where access to primary care is of the utmost concern.
“There are definitely some issues that need some attention.”
Inflation and rising interest rates (12 per cent), the economy (11 per cent) and the U.S.-Canada trade relationship round out the top five issues of concern to Ontarians.
With the exception of the latter, a greater proportion of respondents said Ford and company were doing a bad job than a good job on each of those files, particularly the two most important issues.
In fact, government was only judged to be doing a good job in four areas: U.S. trade and tariff response (53 per cent), federal government relations (51 per cent), energy (41 per cent) and interprovincial relations with municipalities (39 per cent).
All of this, Macleod Macey said, points to voters being concerned with “a multitude of issues” beyond the beef with Donald Trump and his administration.
“While we’re focusing a lot on the U.S., and that is important, there are a number of things that need to be taken care of,” she told National Post. “I think if we could make some improvements in that direction, maybe we’d see a shift in those numbers.”
Ontario Place and Ontario Science Centre plans
Two local Toronto issues that have dogged Ford and his governments since June 2023 are the redevelopment of Ontario Place and the relocation of the Ontario Science Centre (OSC) to the former, which is planned to begin this year following the Don Mills Road facility’s abrupt closure last June due to structural integrity concerns.
Questions about the two were added at the behest of McLeod Macey, who said she wanted to filter out the “loud voices” in traditional and social media so as to measure the feelings of “everyday Ontarians.”
Leger polling found that while 30 per cent either somewhat or strongly support moving OSC to the waterfront, 47 per cent are opposed, 27 per cent of whom felt strongly about it.
McLeod Macey also highlighted a 23 per cent cohort who are unsure.
“I think this speaks to the fact that many Ontarians don’t really know the back story. They don’t know all the conversations that have been happening,” she suggested.
When it comes to Ontario Place’s redevelopment to include a mix of public parkland and private facilities, favourability goes up (38 per cent) but is still overshadowed by unfavourability (43 per cent) at this time.
“There are some people who just aren’t going to get behind private development, but perhaps with some more communication, some more understanding, folks would be more supportive of the changes that are happening there and maybe seeing the waterfront being used to its fullest,” McLeod Macey said.
The entirety of work at Ontario Place — which includes a spa and wellness facility, a new Budweiser stage, among other projects — is expected to be complete by 2030.
Leger’s survey was conducted online on May 23-25 and polled 1,025 Ontario residents, almost half of whom reside in the GTA.
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