Sunday, April 20, 2025

Poll shows higher number of Indigenous voters favour NDP in election campaign


New polling data shows more Indigenous voters are sticking with the NDP in this federal election than the general population.

The data, compiled by Mainstreet Research, says if an election were held today among decided voters 17 per cent of Indigenous people would cast their ballots for the NDP compared to 6.3 per cent of the general population.

Much of this vote would come at the expense of the Liberals which polled at 41.3 per cent for the general population compared to 31.9 per cent amongst Indigenous voters.

The Conservatives polled at 37.9 per cent for the general population and 33.9 per cent with Indigenous voters.

Mainstreet CEO Quito Maggi said a popular First Nations NDP premier in Manitoba may explain some of the reason why more Indigenous voters are sticking with the NDP.

“I can’t help but think there’s a Wab Kinew factor, certainly among voters in Manitoba he’s very, very popular,” Maggi said. “But also, he’s been getting along very well the Liberals and Trudeau (Justin, former prime minister and Liberal leader) and since then with Carney (Mark, prime minister and Liberal leader).

“So, I think there’s some of those NDP premiers and strong NDP leaders in Western Canada that’s making a big difference. Especially in those rural communities where the First Nations are going to be a factor in those ridings.”

Mainstreet used a text message to invite eligible voters living in Canada to complete an online survey from Mar. 19 to Apr. 6 with a sample size of 8758 of which 250 identified as Indigenous.

The margin of error is plus or minus one per cent with a confidence level of 95 per cent.


Read More: Decision 2025 


An Indigenous communications expert says U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this week to pause tariffs for some countries for 90 days is unlikely to change the current trajectory of the Canadian federal election campaign.

“Okay, so 90 days are we back on this roller coaster again,” Cam Holmstrom, founder and principal of Niipaawi Strategies, asked. “Is he (Trump) going to read one bad tweet and all of a sudden he’s threatening 100 per cent tariffs on something else, somewhere else? I think that’s the problem the Conservatives, the New Democrats – really all the opposition parties have here. Is that it is so unstable and so unpredictable.”

With Trump’s tariff and annexation threats dominating the campaign so far, the Liberals have used this to their advantage capitalizing on Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s economic expertise to answer these threats.

On the flip side, both the Conservatives and NDP have tried to drag the campaign back to domestic issues such as affordability, lack of housing and voter fatigue after 10 years of Liberal rule.

The CEO of the Somerset West Community Health Centre in downtown Ottawa says the forced closure of its supervised consumption site will leave a number of people that struggle with addictions that much more vulnerable to the city’s illicit toxic drug supply.

“At the Somerset West Community Health Centre last year, we were able to reverse close to 500 overdoses,” Suzanne Obiorah said. “There is a drug supply that is unregulated, that is unknown, that is poisonous, that’s leading to tremendous challenges. From a health standpoint, from a behaviour standpoint. It’s causing brain injury and yet people are still in a cycle where they’re needing to use.”

Ontario’s Ford government has passed legislation that bans supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares.

A recent court injunction says the sites can remain open for now but Somerset West has still decided to close its facility because it depended on provincial funding to operate.

Instead the centre is focusing on its new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment or Hart Hub which provides mental health, addiction and homelessness services.

No comments: