Grading Trudeau, Poilievre, Singh on their 2023 political performances
This year saw some significant movement when it came to political party support in Canada, amid a series of major news-making moments and federal policy challenges.
In the second half of the year, Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives led the Liberals in polling by a two-digit margin as housing and the cost of living became top of mind concerns for Canadians.
That sliding support prompted questions over whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will continue to lead the Liberals into the next election, which is currently scheduled for fall of 2025.
And, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's confidence-and-supply deal resulted in some policy wins such as dental care, but the party remains roughly where it was about a year ago in those same polls.
This weekend on CTV's Question Period, the weekly panel of political strategists offered the letter grades for the trio of top federal leaders.
Scott Reid, CTV News political analyst and former communications director to prime minister Paul Martin, scored Trudeau with a "D."
"It's been a real challenge of a year for the prime minister. You know, the best thing you can say about it is that he got through it. He did not see his caucus rise up and rebel, he did not see the NDP walk away from him. So he has the benefit of time, but what he needs in 2024 is a year not one bit like 2023," Reid said.
Kory Teneycke, Ontario Premier Doug Ford's campaign manager and former director of communications for prime minister Stephen Harper, scored Poilievre with an "A."
"If you don't get an 'A' from going from basically dead even to north of 15 points in terms of a lead, I don't know what you get an 'A' for. Clearly, that's a phenomenal year by anyone's measure. And, I think a lot of the credit obviously goes to Poilievre, but I think to his team as well… Good marks for discipline, good marks for strategy, good marks for performance," Teneycke said.
Kathleen Monk, former NDP strategist and director of communications to the late Jack Layton, scored Singh with a "B-" though with a "grade of distinction or merit" for his policy work.
"Why is that? Because I'm not sure if he's actually getting the credit he deserves for it… His fundraising numbers are not like the other two parties, he needs to get that lift up. And actually there are some rumblings in caucus that could bleed into 2024, some challenges of keeping the caucus together around the confidence and supply agreement," Monk said.
You can watch the whole segment to see how each panellist scored all the leaders, in the video attached above.
Tune in on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET to hear the Sunday Strategy Session discuss what they considered their top stories of 2023, and what they predict will be the biggest political stories of 2024.
With files from CTV News' Vassy Kapelos, Stephanie Ha, and Spencer Van Dyk
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