New poll suggest Dion is correct: linking taxes and environment popular with Canadians

A new Decima Poll suggests Stephane Dion has the support of Canadians in linking green performance with tax cuts. In the face of other polls recently that suggest the "honeymoon period" following Stephane Dion's victory as Liberal leader is over, this poll adds a dimension of day-to-day performance of the federal leaders.

It shows the Liberal party may be able to earn a renewed popularity with Canadians on the basis of sound sustainable policy. This, coupled with Dion's use of 'town halls' to assist with the perceived integrity of policy design outputs and their implementation, seems to resonate with Canadians.

The Toronto Star writes:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has advocated tax breaks tied to green behaviour, such as the purchase of energy-efficient appliances or the installation of home energy generation systems. The Conservatives have avoided any linkage between tax policy and environmental reform. The hypothetical Liberal promise that was put to poll participants by Decima outperformed the Conservative promise in every part of the country except Alberta. In that province there was a 46 per cent versus 37 per cent preference for the no-strings option. Nationwide, 50 per cent of men and 52 per cent of women preferred the Liberal promise. It was preferred by every age, income and education group and by urban (54 per cent) as well as rural (46 per cent) voters.

The recent series of victories on matters of policy by the Liberal party under Stephane Dion's leadership bodes well for the Liberals ability to earn a victory of war on the ground leading up to an election. Apart from in Alberta, any positives by Stephen Harper's gang recently have been purely tactical and have had little to do with the creation of good policy.

Does this show a tendency for Steven Harper to choose optics over substance? For the CPC is this about giving Canadians cabinet shuffles and caucus acquisitions over ideas? On the policy front there have already been failures for the Conservatives that Canadians won't forget quickly, such as former Environment Minister Rona Ambrose's Green Plan and the 'military' (instead of 'peacekeeping') mission in Afghanistan.

Announcements by Harper's party recently have all been about the promise and eventual delivery of good governance, rather than anything in the present. Nothing has been done to demonstrate to Canadians day to day that the Conservatives have any good ideas. After all, even policy process choices by Stephane Dion, such as Town Hall meetings, seem to be emulated by Harper and his Conservatives.

If Harper continues to specialise only on political tactics and not policy, the appropriate use of ideas will continue to be to the advantage of the Liberals. It seems that good policy and quality leadership will win the hearts and minds of Canadians, at least according to Decima's most recent research.