Article content

By Ryan Tumilty

The polling used to justify People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier’s inclusion into the national leader’s debate painted a much rosier picture than the final result.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Commission's pre-debate polling showed support for People’s Party much higher than in final election results Back to video

The numbers also suggest the party may have had a better shot if the debate commission had kept Maxime Bernier on the sidelines.

The Leader’s Debate Commission initially kept Bernier’s party out of the debate, but when the party appealed their exclusion, the commission took a second look. In addition to Bernier’s riding, where he ultimately came second, party officials submitted four other ridings where they thought chances were good.

The commission then hired EKOS Research to poll those four ridings.

In Toronto’s Etobicoke North, Renata Ford was carrying the party’s banner and EKOS numbers showed 29.9 per cent of respondents said it was either possible, likely or certain they would support her, with 15.3 per cent certain they would. But when the votes were counted, the party only got 2.8 per cent of the ballots cast.