Liberals, Conservatives in a 'dead heat' as health-care concerns soar among Canadians: Nanos

With the health-care funding deal in the headlines and concern over the state of health care soaring -- latest tracking numbers by Nanos Research show Liberals enjoying a bounce in ballot support, and in a dead heat with the Conservatives.

With the federal health-care funding deal in the headlines and the state of health care towering over other issues of national concern -- including inflation and the economy -- the federal Liberals seem to be enjoying a corresponding bounce in ballot support and are in a dead heat with the Conservatives.

"The key takeaway here is health care has been on the rise as a top national issue of concern," said Nik Nanos, official pollster for CTV News and the Globe and Mail, on Wednesday's episode of Trend Line.

With the Liberal health-care funding deal – which Canada's premiers have agreed to accept – prominently in the news this past week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been front and centre, "and what you see basically is Liberal numbers showing positive movement over the last four weeks with this focus on health care," said Nanos.

The trend line on Nanos' weekly ballot tracking shows the Conservatives pulling ahead of the Liberals starting back in December, but the Liberals started ascending in mid-January and have closed the gap.

"When we look at the board, at the actual percentages, we can see that it is absolutely a dead heat between the Liberals and the Conservatives. Both of them at 33 percentage points support each," said Nanos.