OTTAWA—A new poll suggests many Canadians are paying attention to the Liberal government’s alleged political interference scandal and that it is souring opinions of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The poll by Forum Research, provided exclusively to the Star, included 1,301 randomly selected Canadian adults who responded to an interactive telephone survey on Wednesday and Thursday — the day of Jody Wilson-Raybould’s stunning justice committee testimony in Ottawa and the day after.

A majority of respondents — 55 per cent — said they could “confidently explain the situation related to the Prime Minister´s Office and SNC Lavalin,” including 27 per cent who said they can “very confidently” explain it.

Meanwhile, 57 per cent said the situation has “worsened” their opinion of Trudeau, versus 36 per cent who said it has had “no effect” and 7 per cent who said their view of the prime minister has been improved by the situation.

Results of the poll are considered accurate +/- 3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

“Everyone is showing a pretty good level of awareness,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said. “That we can say without a doubt, and they seem to know a lot about it.”

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The controversy erupted Feb. 7, when the Globe and Mail reported that officials in the Prime Minister’s Office pressured the former attorney general to intervene in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin to strike a mediation deal with the global engineering and construction giant that is based in Montreal.

Trudeau and his office have repeatedly denied there was inappropriate pressure, while Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick — Canada’s top bureaucrat who works directly with the prime minister — has acknowledged Wilson-Raybould came under pressure to make the “right” decision on whether or not to halt the SNC-Lavalin prosecution. Trudeau and his government have said the company employs thousands of Canadians and that they wanted to consider the impact of a criminal conviction — which could include a 10-year ban from lucrative government contracts — on the multinational corporation.

On Wednesday, after Trudeau agreed to partially lift cabinet confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege that prevented her from speaking publicly about the matter, Wilson-Raybould accused the prime minister and his top officials of a “consistent and sustained” campaign over four months to pressure her into suspending the SNC-Lavalin prosecution. While she said she does not believe the pressure amounted to criminal interference in a judicial decision, Wilson-Raybould said it made her feel “a very heightened level of anxiety” and that it was “entirely political and entirely inappropriate.”

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has called on Trudeau and Wernick to resign, and wrote to the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police calling for a criminal investigation. Five former attorneys generals from Conservative and NDP governments added their voices to that call Thursday night.

On Friday, after Trudeau shuffled existing members of his cabinet to fill the spot left by Wilson-Raybould when she resigned in the wake of the controversy, Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Trudeau to cancel the scheduled parliamentary break next week so that MPs can remain in Ottawa to hold the government to account on Wilson-Raybould’s testimony.

The NDP and Green party have called for a public inquiry, but Trudeau and the Liberals have said they are confident hearings at the Commons justice committee and an investigation by the House of Commons conflict of interest commissioner can determine what happened.

Bozinoff, the Forum president, said that while the majority of respondents to his poll said the situation has soured their view of Trudeau, it is not clear how that will affect the federal election this fall. That’s because of regional differences in the results, he said. Regional breakdowns, which have much lower sample sizes, indicate that 76 per cent of respondents from Alberta said the situation has worsened their view of Trudeau, compared with 52 per cent in Ontario and 48 per cent in Quebec.

Bozinoff said the controversy may be mostly turning off people who weren’t going to support the Trudeau team anyway.

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“So far, this thing is reinforcing — I think — people’s previously held opinions, he said.

At the same time, he noted that 59 per cent said the situation will impact how they vote this fall, including 36 per cent who said it will have a “strong impact” on their vote.

“This thing is ongoing and who knows what’s going to happen. This drip drip drip is going to take its toll possibly going forward,” he said.

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