The Puzzle Palace
I have no proof, and its only an opinion, but I suspect Harper set up Mulcair by trying to turn the niqab into an election issue.

Harper knew how unpopular the niqab was in Quebec - the NDP's current strong hold - and knew that Mulcair would come out in support of a woman's right to wear the niqab.

Looks like it worked, whether it was intentional or not. NDP are down in the polls from what I've seen.

jessica murray
you're no doubt right, but in the end it will likely prove a foolish strategy. it's the same ballot question as the last election in quebec (the quebec charter), and the pq lost the election on it. also, but the situation in context: the pq had just won the election on the backs of the student strike. marois should have had an easy ten years in power, at least, after that fiasco. but, she blew it by trying to force people to not wear the niqab.

i haven't seen the question. but, it's a good example of why we have a clarity act. because the following statements are going to yield vastly different responses:

1) i don't like the niqab. that will yield high agreement.
2) the niqab is oppressive. that will also yield high agreement.
3) i think people should be forced by law to take off the niqab, and face penalties if they refuse to. that will yield broad disagreement.

if you commission a poll measuring 1 or 2, it can easily confuse you into deducing 3. further, it's very hard to campaign on 1 or 2 without having voters conclude that what you mean is 3.

the reality is that a large amount of federal conservative voters just voted against the charter in the last provincial election, and if this ends up framed the same way it's going to hurt them.

so, wait for the dust to settle. it may hurt the ndp, but then the bloc gain. and, any influx of caq voters is likely to be more than offset by a loss of liberal voters. in the end, it hurts the conservatives.

www.cbc.ca/news/politics/french-language-debate-party-leaders-quebec-1.3255075