Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is the most popular provincial leader in Canada, while Ontario’s Doug Ford and New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs came in dead last.
The latest provincial approval ratings were reported in a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute.
Kinew, whose NDP government was elected in October 2023, has approval from 66% of his province. In contrast, Ford and Higgs have the approval of just 31% of Ontarians.
Late last year, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government was rocked by the Greenbelt controversy. Ford was forced to backtrack and apologize for a plan to develop parts of the Greenbelt after it was revealed his family had close ties with some developers who stood to benefit from the deal.
Ford won a four-year mandate in 2022, but sources told Global News this month that the PCs have been weighing the benefits of an early 2025 election.
Meanwhile, Higgs has faced calls for a public inquiry from the opposition Liberals over more than $100 million awarded to contract nurses to help address a healthcare staffing crisis in 2022.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey is the second favourite premier, and was given the green light from 55% of his residents. That’s an eight-point bump from last quarter.
He’s followed by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe who has the approval of 49% of the province.
Next comes Alberta’s Danielle Smith, who became premier after winning the United Conservative Party’s leadership contest in October 2022. Smith’s UCP was re-elected in a general election less than a year later in May 2023.
Support for Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston remained steady at 44%, and BC’s David Eby trails him by one point, at 43%.
In a rare move, the progressive premier aimed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Western Premiers Conference in the Yukon earlier this month, saying the West deserves more dollars for immigration stressors, like Quebec. Eby also said the newcomers are making it difficult for young people to afford housing.
The three least popular premiers all have approval ratings below 40%, with Quebec Premier Francois Legault sneaking in ahead of Ford and Higgs with approval from 36% of his residents.
The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from June 14-20, 2024 among a representative randomized sample of 4,204 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The margin of error varies for each province, ranging from plus or minus three points to plus or minus seven points.
