By IANS,
Toronto : In a severe indictment of their own national leadership, Canadians say they would rather vote for Barack Obama than their own leaders, according to a new survey.
Reporting the findings of the survey conducted for it by an outside organization, Canadian Television said Sunday that the US presidential candidate was more popular among Canadians than Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Opposition leader Stephane Dion.
In the survey, conducted between June 12 and June 22 across the country, 26 percent Canadians said they would vote for Obama. Only 21 percent plumped for their own prime minister.
Though despised here, Hillary Clinton came in third with 16 percent support.
US Republican party candidate John McCain, who visited Ottawa just last week to assure Canada against any reopening of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if he was elected to the White House, was favoured by only 3 percent Canadians.
Peter Donolo, of Strategic Counsel which conducted the survey, told the television channel: “Some would read (the results) as an indictment of our political leaders.
“Others would say it’s an acknowledgement of the phenomenal nature of Obama’s appeal. He really is a prototype of his own; he’s broken the mold.”
Donolo added: “There’s a sense in Canada that we’re in a rut with our political situation, and I think there’s a fatigue with the nature of politics in Ottawa as we watch it through question period – the very cranky, minority-government style politics.”