SES Research has conducted a poll with regards to Canadians defence relationship with the United States. The results are as clear as mud.
34% want the relationship to stay the same
32% of Canadians wish to be further away from the US
30% want to have a closer defence relationship
With numbers like these what is the best thing to do? Straddle the middle. Which is what Canada has done for decades on this file. I seem to remember a quote from Robert Kennedy (but I can't find it, so I may be wrong) where he said that Canada's offers all aid short of actual help.
Here is how Nik Nanos at SES frames it.
...Conceding the pro-American position to the Harper-led Conservatives, places a clear obstacle to Conservative growth in Quebec and clouds the ballot question. Will Quebecers, because of their anger over the Gomery Inquiry, punish the Liberals or will they vote for theLiberals - fearful of a Conservative Party which might align Canada more closely with the United States? Further, in seat-rich Ontario and also in British Columbia, the Liberal position inoculates theLiberals from an NDP pick-up.
When, like the Liberals, you have no core, you can play this game of politics like a chess match. Constantly changing your strategy and positions for the most political gain. And the Liberals are good at it.
