A new poll gives Freeland and Garneau top marks

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Transport Minister Marc Garneau might have more of a reason to feel festive than some of their cabinet colleagues as Parliament Hill prepares for the winter break, according to a new poll.

Nearly half of Canadians say Freeland, who has been front-and-centre renegotiating the crucial free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, has done a “good job,” according to the second annual public opinion survey from the Angus Reid Institute canvassing Canadian opinion on the performance of the Trudeau government’s cabinet.

Freeland’s performance score of +20 (the percentage of those saying “good job” less those saying “bad job”) is the highest among her peers, the poll says.

Freeland is also one of the most recognizable faces of the Trudeau cabinet, along with Garneau, and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.

But it’s a different story for their cabinet colleagues such as Minister of Natural Resources Amarjeet Sohi and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen.

Sohi, who has played a key role in the controversial decision to purchase the TransMountain pipepine project to pump Alberta oil to terminals on Canada’s Pacific coast near Vancouver receives a -36 – ten points worse than anyone else.

Hussen, who has been on the receiving end of criticism of the government’s handling of irregular migrants file, has received a score of -26.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau receives a score -20 with just under one-quarter of Canadians say he is doing a good job (23%) and more than four-in-ten disagreeing (43%).

But Morneau is also the most recognized minister in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet. More than four-in-five (83%) recognize him, followed by Freeland (79%), Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan (75%) and Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna (75%)