West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast Liberal candidate Blair Wilson is claiming a poll shows his party leading the Conservatives by 17 percentage points in their North Shore stronghold.
But according to a vice president with Ipsos-Reid, which conducted the survey, the poll doesn't reach that conclusion.
The poll in question was released Saturday (June 12). Ipsos-Reid interviewed more than 1,000 people in B.C. and concluded that the Conservatives are ahead of the Liberals and NDP in B.C., with 32 per cent support compared to 27 per cent for the other parties.
The polling firm reported that the Liberals lead in the northwest sector of the Lower Mainland. The firm lists Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and the North Shore as the areas that make up the northwest sector of the Lower Mainland. There are a total of ten ridings in the region identified by Ipsos-Reid, several of which are held by Liberals and the NDP.
Within the region, the pollsters found that 38 per cent of decided and leaning voters, support the Liberals while 32 per cent support the NDP and 21 per cent back the Conservatives.
The firm did not make specific mention of North Shore polling results.
Despite that, a news release from the Wilson campaign on Monday (June 14) suggested that the Liberals held a significant lead on the North Shore.
"It is a completely false assumption to say that the North Shore result is the same as that in Vancouver, the same as that in Burnaby and the same as in New Westminster," said Kyle Braid, a vice president with Ipsos-Reid. "It is a big region and the North Shore forms a fairly small part of it."
According to Braid, the Wilson camp took the survey results and made an unreasonable assumption.
"You can't say that because the Liberals are at 38 per cent in the region that they are at 38 per cent in the riding," Braid said.
Braid added that to get an idea of the sentiment in an individual riding, one would have to compare his company's findings to the results of the last election to determine potential trends.
Wilson said he didn't do that in concluding that he has 38 per cent support on the North Shore.
"We've taken a look at these numbers and found that these numbers are reflecting what we are hearing on the ground at the grassroots level," Wilson said on Monday (June 14). "We're seeing the fruit of our labour as we gain traction throughout the riding and throughout the election."
"When you are desperate you will do anything," Reynolds said Monday afternoon. "The Liberal party is desperate right now and they are saying things that aren't accurate.
"I just put it up to inexperience. As a Member of Parliament you can't make those kinds of mistakes and take credit for other people's work."
But according to Wilson, the general direction is showing that the Liberal party support is increasing.
"That is exactly what this poll shows when you compare it to the rest of the Lower Mainland," said Wilson.
While the Ipsos-Reid report showed 38 per cent support for the Liberals in the Northwest sector of the Lower Mainland, the rest of the Lower Mainland is Conservative country.
"The Conservatives have a sizable lead over both the Liberals and the NDP," the Ipsos-Reid report said. In the rest of the Lower Mainland the poll found that the Conservatives enjoy 42 per cent support and the Liberals lag behind at 25 per cent and the NDP at 22 per cent.
The Ipsos-Reid polls were commissioned by CTV and the Globe and Mail. Those interviewed were asked to answer as if the election were to be held tomorrow and the questions were posed between June 1 and 8.
Three separate but related polls were conducted and each has a different margin of error ranging from plus or minus 6.4 percentage points to 3.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
