PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are now 10 percentage points ahead of the Conservatives.

And it appears that the defection of Ontario MP Leona Alleslev (Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill) from the Liberals to the Conservatives will hardly matter to the Liberals. In fact, it is quite apparent that Allesley deserted the Liberals only to save herself as she won in the 2015 election by merely 1,093 votes and would probably have lost in 2019 to the Conservative candidate.

The latest Nanos federal ballot tracking (September 14) has the Liberals at 41.1  per cent support, followed by the Conservatives at 31.4 per cent, the NDP at 14.9 per cent, the Bloc Quebecois at 2 per cent and the Greens at 5.8 per cent.

Trudeau is ahead of Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer by 16 percentage points as the preferred choice as Prime Minister.

Trudeau is the preferred PM for 41.6 per cent of Canadians, followed by Scheer (25.2%), NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh (6.4%) and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (6.5%).  Nineteen per cent of Canadians were unsure whom they preferred.

More than half of Canadians (55.8%) believe Trudeau has the qualities of a good political leader while 41.9 per cent believe the same about Scheer. One in three (32.8%) say Jagmeet Singh has the qualities of a good political leader, while 32.6 per cent believe the same about May. One in six (19%) in Quebec said interim Bloc Quebecois leader Mario Beaulieu has the qualities of a good political leader.

Asked whether they would consider voting for each of the federal parties, 49.9 per cent of Canadians say they would consider voting Liberal while 45.9 per cent would consider voting Conservative.  Roughly one in three (35.3%) would consider voting NDP while 18.4 per cent and 25.9 per cent of Canadians would consider voting for the BQ and Green parties, respectively.