Time for a Change?

Is Canada's Liberal Party slipping? Two recent by-election defeats (TIME, Nov. 7) showed up Liberal weak spots in New Brunswick and Ontario. Last week there was evidence that the weakness may be spreading elsewhere in the party that has governed Canada continuously since 1935. For the third time in five months, the Gallup poll indicated a decline in the Liberals' share of the popular vote. The Liberal proportion now stands at 46%, lowest since the 1953 general election. Said the Gallup poll report: "The shift is consistent enough to constitute a trend."

The trend away from the Liberals is clearly toward the Tories. The strength of the minority CCF (socialist) and Social Credit Parties has remained fairly constant in the past six months, but the voters' preference for the Tories has risen from 26% in June to 32% today. Most encouraging from the Tory standpoint is the poll's evidence of a 22% increase in Tory popularity in Ontario and a 17% gain in Quebec, good signs that the party is making its greatest headway in the two big provinces where federal election campaigns are lost and won.

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