Liberal lead jumps to 8 points; Canadians shrug off budget: poll

The federal Liberals now have an eight-point lead over the Conservatives as they head into this weekend’s policy convention in Montreal, according to a new Ipsos Reid / CTV News poll. (Jacques Boissinot / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The federal Liberals now have an eight-point lead over the Conservatives as they head into this weekend’s policy convention in Montreal, according to a new Ipsos Reid/CTV News poll.

If an election were held tomorrow, this is what the vote breakdown would look like:

At the same time, a majority of surveyed Canadians say they feel indifferent about the federal budget tabled on Feb. 11. More than 70 per cent said they simply shrugged it off, while 76 per cent said it doesn’t impact them positively or negatively.

The latest poll surveyed 1,034 Canadians online between Feb. 14 and Feb. 18. The results are accurate within 3.5 percentage points.

The poll suggests that the Conservative government failed to capture momentum with its “boring” budget, which garnered the least amount of reaction in years, according to Ipsos Reid.

In the 2014 budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty promised a significant surplus for next year, plus more skills training initiatives, infrastructure projects and some consumer-friendly measures.

Only nine per cent of those surveyed said they thought it was a good budget, which suggests that the Conservatives are losing their fiscal advantage over other parties, according to Ipsos Reid.

More than 40 per cent of those surveyed think the budget focused too much on deficit reduction, and 25 per cent thought the budget focused too much on spending. Thirty-four per cent believe that Flaherty struck the right balance.

Before the budget was tabled, 46 per cent of Canadians approved of the government’s overall management of the economy. Immediately following the budget, that figure rose only slightly, to 47 per cent.

More on Liberals’ lead

The poll suggests that Liberals have made gains in two battleground provinces, Ontario and Quebec, with 37 per cent and 35 per cent of the vote, respectively. But the Tories have taken the lead in British Columbia, with 38 per cent of the vote.

Ipsos Reid notes that the Liberals’ gains may not stick because among the most committed voters – those who say that only an unforeseen emergency would stop them from casting a ballot -- the party’s lead over the Tories shrinks to 4 points.