OTTAWA–The Liberal government is bleeding progressive voters’ support in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, new poll results from Forum Research suggest.Just over half of respondents to an April 23 poll said the SNC-Lavalin saga will have an impact their decision at the ballot box, according to data shared by Forum with the Star.Of those voters, 25 per cent said they’re more likely to vote NDP (14 per cent) or for the Green Party candidate in their ridings (11 per cent), suggesting progressive voters are searching for an alternative to the Liberals.“They need every vote they can get right now, and I think their strategy was going to be to try to retain the progressive vote and make the case they’re the best ones to hold off the Conservatives. This will make that whole strategy harder to do,” said Forum president Lorne Bozinoff.“But I did note that in Québec this is actually, amongst some people, this has actually strengthened their intention to vote Liberal.”Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould alleged she was subjected to improper political pressure by Trudeau and his senior staff to cut SNC-Lavalin a “deferred prosecution agreement.” Such an agreement would allow the Montreal-headquartered construction giant to avoid a conviction on criminal fraud and bribery charges that would disqualify it from bidding on future government contracts. The resulting scandal gripped Ottawa for two months, led to the resignations of Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from cabinet, as well as the resignation of Trudeau’s principal secretary.It also had a heavy cost for Trudeau’s personal brand, the Forum data suggests.Three-quarters of respondents said the scandal has worsened their opinion of Trudeau. The brand hit was especially pronounced among people with a college or university degree (80 per cent), respondents from the Prairies (91 per cent), and among Conservative (87 per cent) or NDP (84 ...
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