Canadians’ advice to Stephen Harper, other parties

What advice would you give to each of the political parties to "improve" their levels of support? That was a question for 1,202 Canadians randomly selected by Nanos Research.

As you might imagine, the question spawned a myriad of responses but some key issues prevailed and were published in Friday's Globe and Mail.

The top, unprompted piece of advice for Stephen Harper was to "communicate with people." The advice, likely as a result of the Harper government's tight control over Canada's media, was put forward by 13 per cent of the respondents.

A total of 6.4 per cent of respondents suggested the Tories be more honest and transparent, while 4.4 per cent advised lowering taxes, fixing the economy and creating jobs.

For the NDP, it seemed respondents were a little more confounded: 8.9 per cent of those surveyed wanted the New Democrats to "choose a new leader" while 8.7 per cent said they had "no advice" for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

Pollster Nik Nanos told the Globe that this has to do with the success of the NDP in the last year—winning Quebec and Opposition Party status in the May election.

"No advice is a bit of a proxy for great job, stay the course," he said.

The top suggestion for the Liberals, aside from getting a new leader themselves, was to be "more transparent." Could that be because people still remember the backroom shenanigans of the Jean Chrétien government?

And finally, for Elizabeth May and her Green Party, respondents want them to "broaden their policy views."

Indeed, the only way for the Greens to move up in the polls, is by showing Canadians that they're more than a one-issue party.

The poll was conducted between Nov. 16 and 21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.