Ottawa

Harris Decima/CP: … Then again, maybe not.

Slightly less blue-rose-coloured numbers from Harris Decima, which polled from October 1 to 12 — and wouldn’t you like to see those day-by-day breakdowns? — with a 2.2 margin of error:

Conservatives: 35
Liberals: 28
NDP: 15
Greens: 10
Bloc Quebecois (in Quebec): 41

There’s not much in the way of detailed tables to pore over just yet, alas — the first CP writethru didn’t even give the percentage for the Bloc in Quebec, but left it as a fun little math problem for the readers, not that ITQ is sitting here simmering with resentment at such blatant datahoarding or anything. Oh, wait, yes she is.

Anyway, we know that the Conservatives are up in Ontario, but by just four percent, sitting at 40 percent, compared  to 36 percent  for the Liberals which is a far cry from the fifteen point lead that has emerged in both EKOS and Ipsos’ findings. The NDP, on the other hand, doesn’t even make it into the standings, but ITQ would guess that they’re somewhere between 12 and 15 percent.

The west is — oh, it’s the west. It never changes, except for those occasional flurries of excitement when the NDP creep past the Liberals in Saskatchewan or British Columbia.

Meanwhile, in the Harris-Decimaverse at least, the Liberals are still ahead in Atlantic Canada, although not by much — a mere three point advantage over the Conservatives, with the NDP nipping at the Tories’ heels, although we don’t know where those three points put either party, since apparently, that just isn’t important enough to include in the story. And why should it be, really? ITQ looks forward to a brave new world of poll reporting where we just come up with new ways to say “ahead” and “behind”, and omit all those ugly numbers.

So, there you have it — not sure how much scope for speculation this provides, but have at it, commenters!

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.