More than half of Canadians unaware of Parliament gridlock: poll
Global News
The issue stems from a privilege motion that was raised by the Conservatives about a green-tech fund that was found to have misspent government money.
A debate has ground work in the House of Commons to a halt for weeks, but a new poll suggests that most Canadians are not even aware it’s happening.
In a new survey from polling firm Leger, 55 per cent of respondents said they had not heard about the procedural issues that have gridlocked Parliament for more than 12 sitting days.
The issue stems from a privilege motion that was raised by the Conservatives about a green-tech fund that was found to have misspent government money.
The Tories have vowed to continue debate on their motion until the Liberals hand over unredacted documents about the fund to Parliament and the RCMP.
The government provided redacted versions of those documents to the House of Commons in August, and the RCMP say they also have that information.
However, the Mounties have raised doubts about whether they could legally use documents given to them by Parliament as part of an investigation, and the Liberals are so far refusing to release the unredacted versions.
Matters of privilege take priority over all other business in the House of Commons until they are settled.
The poll suggests that roughly the same amount of people think the Liberals and the Conservatives bear responsibility for the issue, at 27 per cent each. However, 26 per cent of those who took the poll said they do not know who is responsible.