70 percent of Canadians blame Trudeau for vaccine delays

Sixty-nine percent of Canadians blame the Federal Government for the fact that the country is behind on vaccines, while only 14 percent blame the provincial governments. The poll findings are a blow to Trudeau, who recently said that his plan was working.

Despite the very slow rollout, Justin Trudeau maintains that every Canadian who wishes to take the vaccine will be able to do so by the end of September. In countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, citizens will be able to take the vaccine by the end of June.

While Trudeau shows optimism about his slow rollout, the majority of Canadians do not think that they will be able to get a vaccine before the end of September. Only 44 percent of respondents believe Canada will meet the September vaccination target. Only 10 percent of those polled say they are "very confident" in Trudeau Liberals' ability to keep their promise of getting vaccines to all by September, with the remaining 34 percent "somewhat confident."

The split suggests Canadians maintain a measure of faith in the Liberal government's procurement efforts, said Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque.

Leger's executive vice-president Christian Bourque told The Canadian Press that "People haven't given up hope that we will get there, but they're certainly looking for answers. A lot of what we hear is that Canada is falling behind. When people hear that, they automatically think it's got to be something going on in Ottawa more than in my province."

According to the poll, Canadians are also less vaccine-hesitant than ever before, with 73 percent of Canadians now saying they will take the vaccine once it's available. However, only one in five Canadians believe Canada should look at procuring Chinese or Russian vaccines.

The Leger Poll was conducted online between February 12 and 14, it surveyed 1,535 Canadians 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel.