About EKOS Politics

We launched this website in order to showcase our election research, and our suite of polling technologies including Probit and IVR. We will be updating this site frequently with new polls, analysis and insight into Canadian politics. EKOS's experience, knowledge and sophisticated research designs have contributed positively to many previous elections.

Other EKOS Products

In addition to current political analysis, EKOS also makes available to the public general research of interest, including research in evaluation, general public domain research, as well as a full history of EKOS press releases.

Media Inquires

For media inquires, please contact: Frank Graves President EKOS Research Associates t: 613.235-7215 [email protected]

ADVICE TO THE NEW LEADER OF THE NDP – March 23, 2012

COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS BY FRANK GRAVES

[Ottawa – March 23, 2012] First of all, let me heartily congratulate you on having won what certainly seemed to be Canada’s longest ever readership race. No one doubts your endurance and that will be important. You may have found the leadership process gruelling but you have just stepped into the midst of what will undoubtedly become Canada’s longest federal election campaign. The crucial pre-campaign period used to begin maybe three to six months before the writ was dropped. This pre-campaign is clearly already on with attack ads targeted at the interim leader… [More...]

UNDERSTANDING THE PROSPECTS FOR THE NDP – March 23, 2012

DISENTANGLING MYTHS AND REALITIES

[Ottawa – March 23, 2012] The two most remarkable features of our current political landscape are the Stephen Harper-led majority government and an NDP opposition. Both of these phenomena are inextricably connected in ways many do not recognize. These shared connections and forces also define the limits and opportunities for the future of these two movements. Our focus here is the NDP but let’s quickly note that the received wisdom of the inevitability of the Conservative Party’s ascendance to majority status, and that they are on the cusp of a stable political dynasty, was decidedly… [More...]

AN INCREASINGLY DIVIDED OUTLOOK – March 20, 2012

RETHINKING CANADA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD

Click here for the study results presented to the 2012 Walter Gordon Symposium in Public Policy: 2012 Walter Gordon Symposium Presentation (March 20, 2012)

THE RETURN OF IDEOLOGY? – March 16, 2012

A STARKLY DIVIDED CANADA

[Ottawa – March 16, 2012] – For some time, Canadians were relatively unique in the advanced western world by virtue of their aversion to ideological compartmentalization. In an essay in the lead up to the NDP leadership convention and the government’s imminent budget, we will be looking at these longer term trends and their implications for the state of politics and democracy in Canada.

We note that the single most powerful predictor of the constellation of values which one adheres to is one’s self identified ideological orientation. Therefore, the tracking of this indicator can… [More...]

THE END OF PROGRESS? – March 9, 2012

BREWING GENERATIONAL TENSION?

[Ottawa – March 9, 2012] – In the spirit of moving polling from the realm of the mercurial fluctuations of politics, we conclude this series with a long look backward and a long look forward. Using this generational lens, we will show how the rear view and future view are clouded and darkening, and that the gloomiest perspectives are centered in what are typically the most optimistic portions of society, the next generations. Using time series, we will chart how this backward and forward looking has changed over the past several years. Sadly, the picture is… [More...]

A DIVIDED PUBLIC POSES DEEP BUDGET CHALLENGES – March 5, 2012

BURGEONING CONCERNS WITH INEQUALITY

[Ottawa – March 5, 2012] – Budgets are the most attentively followed and important legislation that Governments produce. In a climate of growing economic anxieties where the Government has staked out the economy as its principal focus, this is even more so. On top of that, we have a federal government reeling from a nasty controversy over a potential vote suppression scandal which has seen its honeymoon period abruptly replaced with the NDP opposition nipping at their heels in the polls. To state that the budget will be important in this context would be a… [More...]

NO PUBLIC BACKLASH YET OVER ROBO-CALLS – March 2, 2012

…BUT OMINOUS SIGNALS FOR GOVERNMENT AND C-30 SEEN IN URGENT NEED OF REVISIONS

[Ottawa – March 2, 2012] – Having argued that there is little point in focussing on a nonexistent horse race, current events render the obligatory vote intention check up a little more meaningful. While there is no horserace, an occasional glimpse at voter intention can be a useful indicator of moral authority, particularly in a period where a still fairly fresh majority government is being buffeted by rising controversy.

Nearly a year after the election, the Conservative Party is well short of their May 2nd… [More...]