The controversy over alleged political interference in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin has over a few short weeks drastically changed the federal political landscape.

A recent Forum poll conducted for the Star showed a majority of respondents were considering changing their vote because of allegations that Justin Trudeau and his top aides attempted to politically interfere in the prosecution of the Quebec engineering giant. Another Star poll showed the ruling Liberals slipping from a solid lead in recent months to well behind the Conservatives.

But what, exactly, is driving the shift in electoral dynamics? What about the SNC-Lavalin affair has moved the electorate? Or is it the affair at all?

The Star talked to a handful of people across the country who chose the Liberals in 2015 about whether they would vote the same way again and why.

The result?

Many are considering changing their votes — but not necessarily for the reasons (or the parties) you might expect.

Yes, SNC-Lavalin came up as a concern. But just as often, broken promises, inauthenticity and perceived incompetence seemed to be the source of disillusion. Voters on both the left and the right voiced disappointment in a government that has often sought the middle way.

Here’s what they had to say.

Susan Murwyn of Halifax voted for the Liberals in 2015 hoping for action on the environment and electoral reform.

“He said he was going to do more with the environment and he said he was going to do political reform,” she said, adding she really hoped Trudeau would do away with the first-past-the-post electoral system.

“I really wanted that. That was the reason I voted for him.”

But Murwyn doesn’t feel like Trudeau has delivered, and now she feels he’s mishandling the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

“He hasn’t communicated properly,” she said.

Now she plans to vote for Elizabeth May’s Green party.

Fiona Organ of Halifax isn’t sure who she’ll be voting for come October. In 2015, it was Trudeau’s Liberals.

“He was young and he was out there to do things, very personable,” she said.

“Now I’m not sure.”

Organ said she feels like Trudeau hasn’t been up front about the SNC-Lavalin affair.

“It’s almost like he said one thing but he’s doing something different,” she said. “Sometimes to me it feels like there’s not too much honesty there, and that’s very important to me, honesty.”

Though Nicholas Anderson says he was never very “politically engaged,” the 28-year-old voted for Trudeau’s federal Liberals in 2015 because they appeared to protect individual freedoms while wanting progressive change.

Four years later, the filmset carpenter says his values have swung far more conservative.

“One day I just realized I don’t like what’s happening in the world with rampant political correctness, word policing, and the infringement that the Liberals and the left-wing world has taken on free speech,” he said. “Then they paint it with the brush of diversity.”

When he heard Maxime Bernier speak last year, Anderson was immediately compelled to join the newly-minted populist People’s Party of Canada, saying he had to get politically involved if he wanted to “be able to complain” about things.

In fact, Anderson was the vice-president of the PPC’s Burnaby-South electoral district association. And that’s the party he’ll be voting for come October.

“I like how (Bernier) sticks to his guns,” he explains. “I haven’t felt this inspired to take part in Canadian politics until now and I have to credit him with that feeling.”

Carson Park, 29, is a self-described lifelong lefty who voted for the Liberals in 2015 because the party appeared to be pro-liberty and marijuana legalization.

And, he says, they “at least pretended to be honest.”

However, the former mortgage broker and current communications consultant says the party botched the rollout of that policy “horribly,” adding he doesn’t like “a lot of the other scandals” facing the embattled party.

“Since they’ve been elected in the age of internet culture wars, they’ve taken the position of an ideological group that is fundamentally against institutions like democracy, common law and free speech,” he told the Star. “I’m in virile opposition to both corporate welfare and identity politics.”

Park will be voting in his West Kelowna riding for the novel populist People’s Party of Canada, led by Maxime Bernier. And despite reports the party is fending off the alt-right movement or composed of white nationalists, Park dispels those notions as “myths.”

“The doubling down on Canadian nationalism is not an ethnic nationalist position,” he says. “All the people tossing out those pejoratives are just engaged in a satanic panic.”

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Luke Gilmore has no regrets about casting his vote for the Liberals in the 2015 federal election.

The 24-year-old French teacher from Regina said he’s still a strong supporter of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government despite the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin controversy.

“There’s been quite a bit of noise in the past few weeks but I still have a firm belief that the government can handle the situation,” Gilmore said.

He said he was happy with the prime minister’s statement on Thursday and “took him at his word” as to what transpired.

Overall, he said he’s been encouraged by the Liberal’s governance, and said there has been a “unique” emphasis on Saskatchewan. He pointed to how the Liberals held their national caucus meeting in Saskatoon in September.

“That was the first time in decades that happened. So there is a lot of positive that the government is doing and I hope they can carry forward and not let this scandal or situation bog them down too much.”

When Kiefer McCrae, a 28-year-old set to graduate from Calgary’s Mount Royal University’s policy studies program, voted liberal in the 2015 federal election it was because of the party’s promises for marijuana legalization and electoral reform.

Now he says, it’s difficult not to be “pissed off” at the party in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin controversy, but he isn’t yet sure where he stands. He said he won’t make a decision on who he votes for in the next election until he hears their 2019 campaign platform.

“We don’t know how much he (Justin Trudeau) knew about it. We don’t know where the actual pressure came from. It’s a he said she said thing. My understanding of it is that even what he’s being accused of isn’t illegal, which I guess that’s better than if it was illegal,” McCrae said.

“It’s way too early to have a strong opinion on this and on the government’s reaction to it, in my opinion.”

LJ Valencia couldn’t vote in the 2015 election, which took place shortly before he became a Canadian citizen. But the 22-year-old University of Alberta student still volunteered for the Liberal party in Edmonton during that campaign.

Now, Valencia believes a new face needs to emerge to lead the party. He still plans to support the Liberals in this fall’s election. But the current SNC-Lavalin controversy, on top of other promises that didn’t materialize into action, has Valencia hoping someone new can take over the party.

“I’ll still volunteer for the Liberals, but I think Trudeau needs to go as leader,” Valencia said.

“I think a lot of people were disappointed when Trudeau came into power and he campaigned for real change, and some of the changes he argued for and campaigned for like electoral reform, which I strongly supported, hasn’t really gone through. And then this SNC-Lavalin issue is happening and I’m quite disappointed frankly with how Jody Wilson-Raybould’s been treated.”

Specifically, Valencia has taken issue with the way Wilson-Raybould has been discredited and thinks her treatment by the party has been problematic.

The fourth-year U of A economics student said he still plans to vote and volunteer for the Liberal party this fall, to oppose the Conservative party. He specifically cited his issues with that party’s immigration and economic policies. Nevertheless, Valencia still hopes to see improvement from the Liberals this year.

“I think the party needs to get their act together in terms of trying to regain Canadians’ trust,” Valencia said. “Trudeau tried to campaign back in 2015 to bring real change. But given how the whole SNC-Lavalin issue is developing, I think there’s an issue of trust and accountability.”

Ravi Dodla says he has been closely following the unfolding of the SNC-Lavalin story since its beginning, and what he sees worries him.

“Something looks suspicious. I am not entirely sure if there isn’t any corruption involved,” said the Toronto resident, who has voted for Liberal MPs in the past.

The software engineer said he has usually been critical of Trudeau on his economic policies or his “photo opportunity” behaviours — like when he went to India and was seen wearing traditional Indian outfits. But he always viewed the prime minister as a “nice” person, he said.

“This SNC-Lavalin affair changes my perspective of him,” said Dodla.

“Jody Wilson-Raybould seems credible. I believe her,” he said, noting no one in the Trudeau camp has really disputed her story, except saying there have been miscommunications.

Rebecca Hearn admits not knowing all the details about the SNC-Lavalin portfolio, but says it bothers her that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to be in the news “for the wrong reasons.”

“People around him don’t seem to have a lot of confidence in him now,” said Hearn. “The fact that the ministers in his cabinet, who were appointed by him, are resigning and quitting on him, that is a big concern for me.”

The west-end Toronto resident and pet store manager said it is hard to know the truth in politics: some people are siding with Trudeau, while others are against him. While she wants to continue to believe in the prime minister and his political agenda, the SNC-Lavalin saga could change her mind and ultimately influence her choice in the next federal election, she said.

“It all depends on the truth but I can’t guarantee I will vote for him if it continues to drag on,” she said.

With files from Philip Croucher, Zane Woodford, Gilbert Ngabo, Andrew Jeffrey, Melanie Green, Amy Tucker and Omar Mosleh.

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