“‘Breathtaking’ poll sees defeat for Canada Liberals,” by Randall Palmer and David Ljunggren, Reuters, 11 April 2005, http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-04-11T160006Z_01_ZWE149861_RTRUKOC_0_CANADA-POLITICS.xml (from Democratic Underground).
Adscam, Canada’s Watergate, may collapse the left-of-center Liberal Party
Canada’s minority Liberal government is heading for defeat at the hands of the Conservatives after more than 11 years in power, a dramatic new poll is predicting.
The EKOS poll, commissioned by the Toronto Star, was taken after an advertising executive raised the stakes in a scandal about misuse of government cash by testifying he had paid large kickbacks to the Liberals in French-speaking Quebec.
The poll published on Monday showed support for the Conservatives rose seven points to 36.2 percent while the Liberals fell by nine points to just 25 percent.
But both parties played down the chances of a snap election, saying they felt Canadians wanted to hear more information from a public inquiry into the scandal.
It was the lowest showing for the Liberals since they took office in 1993. Public support for the party dipped as low as 29 percent before last June’s election, but the party recovered to poll 36.7 percent on election day.
Visually

Poll Results on the Inside, Current Seats on the Outside
This is great news. Because Canada is a parliamentary democracy, elections can happen at any time…. And the decision of whether to do so falls to the Frech!
The opposition’s first chance to try to bring down Martin’s government will come on Thursday, when the separatist Bloc Quebecois can introduce a motion of no-confidence. The Bloc will decide late on Tuesday whether to go ahead with this.
The Liberal government should go. Canada has not joined America in Iraq, Canada has withdrawn from the continental missile shield, and Canada refuses to harmonize immigration controls.
Let the Canadians vote!