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]

Understanding the Shifting Meaning of the Middle Class

MARCH 2017

This report represents a synthesis of public opinion findings from EKOS and others to help understand Canadians’ attitudes regarding what it means to be middle class today.

This report was prepared for the Privy Council Office, and follows a review of the academic literature which looks at the evolving forces shaping the middle class from an economic and sociological perspective.

The views expressed in this report are those of EKOS Research Associates, Inc., and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.

Click here for… [More...]

Emerging Concerns about the State of the Middle Class

During the Great Recession, Canada seemed to fare better than many other countries. Our banking system remained stable, our housing values remained strong and we led the G7 in adding jobs. Many inaccurately seized upon the results of the 2014 Luxembourg Income Study to suggest that Canada has the richest middle class on the planet, buoyed by rising home values, standing in staid and prosperous relief to the still uncertain conditions in the United States. If all of this were so, Canadians should have spent the past decade feeling confident, even complacent, about their economic prospects. But nothing has been further from the truth. On the contrary, we have observed a startling degree of pessimism felt by Canadians about the economic health and outlook of the middle class. [More...]

Shifting Public Outlook

RETHINKING SOCIAL CANADA

The following presentation was delivered by Frank Graves to the 2016 Queen’s International Institute on Social Policy held from August 22-24, 2016 in Kingston, Ontario.

The conference was hosted by the Queen’s University School of Policy Studies:

“Canada has entered a new period of social policy interest at both the federal and provincial levels, with significant resources committed to social policy renewal. Given this new phase of policy action, it is time to stand back and reflect on the changes underway in Canadian society, the priority challenges facing us, and our capacity to develop… [More...]

Fractured Country Produces Tight and Unpredictable Race

NDP EMERGING AS THE HOME FOR THE MOST DISAFFECTED WITH INCUMBENT

[Ottawa – August 14, 2015] Nothing definitive has emerged from this week’s polling. The race remains very tight with the NDP having plateaued, but they are still hanging on to a slight lead over a pretty moribund Conservative Party. The Liberals are showed some signs of life and may be closing the gap somewhat.

We saw that the debate did generate attention and impacts but the effects dissipated as we got further away from that event in time. But the debate did have at least… [More...]

Harper once again in scant lead in muddy see saw voter contest

THE IRONIC POLITICAL JOURNEY OF THE BELEAGUERED MIDDLE CLASS

[Ottawa – April 17, 2015] There isn’t a lot to note in a rather moribund political landscape. Stephen Harper’s small but significant lead is quite impressive in light of the preponderance of seemingly threatening forces arrayed against him.

Our latest tracking shows that confidence in national direction is teetering to historic lows, matching the historic negativism surrounding the direction of the country and the government leading it. Outlook on the economy is nothing short of gloomy and his personal approval levels are the worst of… [More...]

Voters Stuck

GOVERNMENT CURRENTLY IN SYNC ON CULTURE AND SECURITY, BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMY?

[Ottawa – March 13, 2015] It’s a painfully dull week on the vote intention front and there is little to report as the Conservatives and the Liberals seesaw endlessly back and forth for the lead. It is anecdotally noteworthy that the Liberals are at their lowest point since July 2013, but they’re only slightly off from their average showing over the past few months and they’re just two points shy of the lead.

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From the End of History to the End of Progress

The Shifting Meaning of the Middle Class

Full article available at Canada 2020.

[Ottawa – February 25, 2015] A few years ago, we began noticing something very different about the way the public looked at the economy. The public seemed to believe that we were encountering an end of progress. The idea of a “better life” or what is known to the south as the American Dream seemed to be slipping away. Among citizens of both Canada and the United States, there was a growing recognition that the middle class bargain of shared prosperity, which had… [More...]

Conservatives Slide Slightly: Is the Terror Card Losing Force?

[Ottawa – February 13, 2015] In a week blissfully free of any new terror atrocities, it appears that the security wave which propelled Stephen Harper into a clear lead has lost momentum. The Conservatives have declined three points and the Liberals have risen (an insignificant two points). In examining the demographic and regional shifts, which are modest, it fits with the hypothesis that the lower salience of security in a week with no beheadings or burnings is the factor underlying this modest but statistically significant shift.

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Rethinking the Public Interest: Evolving Trends in Values and Attitudes

By Frank Graves

[Ottawa – October 2, 2014] Influential thinkers, organizers, policy developers and business leaders have gathered to discuss what we can accomplish as a nation at this year’s Canada 2020 conference. To open the conference, Frank Graves presents brand new public opinion data on the major policy challenges facing Canada.

Click here for the full story of how evolving trends in values and attitudes are causing our political leaders to rethink the public interest: Public Record – Canada 2020 conference – Polling Presentation (October 2, 2014)

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From the End of History to the End of Progress

BY FRANK GRAVES

[Ottawa – September 19, 2014] Twenty-five years ago, Francis Fukuyama penned a seminal essay titled the “End of History?” This essay claimed that liberal capitalism had triumphed. This celebratory conclusion was noted in the dissolution of state socialism and the ascendance of the United States to hyperpower status1 and the provocative notion that the dialectical tensions of history had ended and the riddle of history had been solved in American supremacy. At the end of the century, the ascension of a growing and optimistic middle class in the last half of the twentieth century seemed… [More...]

From the End of History to the End of Progress

THE SHIFTING MEANING OF MIDDLE CLASS

By Frank Graves

Presentation to the Queen’s 2014 International Institute on Social Policy

Kingston, Ontario
August 19, 2014

Click here for a PDF version of this presentation: From the End of History to the End of Progress (August 19, 2014)