Canadians believe Trudeau mishandled response to alleged Chinese election meddling, poll finds

OTTAWA - Most Canadians believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has botched responding to

allegations of Chinese interference in his country’s elections,

a new poll suggests.

More than half of respondents to a Nanos Research Group survey conducted for Bloomberg News gave Mr Trudeau’s government low marks for its handling of the issue, with 33 per cent calling it very poor and 22 per cent poor.

That compares with just 14 per cent who gave Mr Trudeau positive reviews, and a further 24 per cent who judged the government’s response to be average.

The poll was taken before the latest setback for Mr Trudeau.

On Friday evening, Mr David Johnston

resigned his job as a special investigator

after relentless opposition criticism that the former governor-general had too many personal connections to the Prime Minister to provide independent judgment on the matter.

“Canadians are clearly ready for a reset on the management of allegations of foreign interference,” Mr Nik Nanos, the polling firm’s chief data scientist, said by e-mail.

For much of the year, Mr Trudeau has been besieged by allegations his government failed to effectively respond to intelligence suggesting the government in Beijing was trying to tilt Canadian election races to favour pro-China candidates.

The allegations have come out through a steady stream of media reports based on leaked intelligence assessments and confidential sources.

In March, Mr Trudeau appointed Mr Johnston

as a “special rapporteur” to review the classified information

and decide whether a judicial inquiry was the best way to address it.

Mr Johnston delivered a report last month that advised against an inquiry, saying too much of the process would be done in secret due to the sensitive material.

The report found China had indeed attempted to interfere in Canada’s democracy, but concluded that Mr Trudeau’s government did not knowingly ignore intelligence on it. 

However, with Mr Johnston’s resignation, it is unclear how Mr Trudeau will move forward.

One of his senior Cabinet ministers, Mr Dominic LeBlanc, told reporters on Saturday that he would consult with opposition parties to determine who might be able to take over Mr Johnston’s job. Mr LeBlanc also left the door open to calling an inquiry.

Mr Nanos said Canadians’ concerns rise above the specific matter of Mr Trudeau’s handling of interference and seep into Canada’s larger relationship with China.

“The government of China is top of mind on this issue,” he said. “People are not only souring on the Canada-China relationship, but a majority would like to see less trade with China.”

The poll found 55 per cent of Canadians want to see Canada’s future trade relationship with China decreased, slightly down from last year but still an increase from 2020, when 45 per cent answered the same way. 

The Nanos poll surveyed 1,096 Canadians from May 31 to June 3, and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. BLOOMBERG