Compas Poll / Survey

Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears to have earned the good will of the COMPAS business panel. Prior to the 2004 election, panelists were respectful of Paul Martin and his government’s efforts. After Harper’s election, the panel began to give the Prime Minister, his cabinet, and his government very high performance scores.

Looking to the future, the panel anticipates that a majority Harper government would perform well though somewhat short of the highest scores he and his government have earned. Meanwhile, panelists anticipate that a Dion majority government would perform poorly. Harper earns an overall performance score of 67%--above the typical scores of the Chretien-Martin governments but below Harper’s own peaks. As for Stéphane Dion, his potential majority government is given a hypothetical failing grade of 42%.

Asked to compare the performance of Harper and Dion majority governments in each of many areas, Harper trumps Dion in all areas except health and the environment, where they are roughly tied.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.