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“A lot of the prime ministers aren’t well known by Canadians, which tells us something about our lack of knowledge about our history,” said Jedwab. “Some of our prime ministers — John A. Macdonald, Wilfrid Laurier and so forth — they have very high rates of people indicating that they don’t know (enough about them).”

Jedwab said lack of knowledge, especially among youth, contributes to the higher ratings for older prime ministers. Conversely, more knowledge is detrimental to our more recent leaders.

“The survey suggested that over time — maybe 20 or 30 years from now — (Harper) may do better,” said Jedwab. “As the memory about him begins to fade, his negative ratings may come down as … the lived experience under Mr. Harper is less well known.”

That effect may already be helping Mulroney’s reputation. While the two prime ministers fare nearly as badly in terms of positives, Mulroney has less negative sentiment: 40 per cent compared to Harper’s 61 per cent. While only eight per cent said they didn’t know how they felt about Harper, 26 per cent indicated they couldn’t make up their mind about Mulroney.

Mr. Mulroney’s reputation was hurt by some of the accusations surrounding the Schreiber controversy

Mulroney’s ratings also got a boost from Canada’s francophone population: 44 per cent indicated positive views of the former PM. The support may have something to do with Quebec’s political culture, Jedwab said.

“Mr. Mulroney’s reputation was hurt by some of the accusations surrounding the Schreiber controversy,” said Jedwab, referring to allegations of kickbacks from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber in connection with Air Canada’s purchase of Airbus planes in the 1990s. “But in Quebec, we’ve encountered a couple of decades of mistrust in our politicians, so that the effect on Mr. Mulroney I would think has diminished over time.”