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HALIFAX -- As thousands of Liberal supporters and observers are convening for a weekend of big-picture speeches and team building ahead of 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has regained some ground in public opinion, but voters want to see results.

According to a survey conducted by exclusively for Â鶹ӰÊÓ about what Canadians like and dislike about the main federal party leaders, the biggest complaint about Trudeau was a perceived lack of action:

• Lack of action/results/weak leader: 17.6 per cent
• Disagree with his political agenda: 11.4 per cent
• Trying to please everyone / too focused on appearance: 10 per cent 

As for what Canadians said they liked about Trudeau:

• Nothing: 29.3 per cent
• Positive/caring/compassionate: 9.3 per cent
• Means well/looks out for all Canadians: 9.2 per cent  

"What they have to do in the lead-up to the next election is to start to deliver. I think it would be fair to say that for many Canadians they found Liberal promises quite appealing but they want to see the Liberals deliver on those particular promises," pollster Nik Nanos told Â鶹ӰÊÓ.

Of the three main political parties, the Liberals are the only ones that will be heading into the next election campaign under the same leadership, and the survey results show that his competition still have work to do to become known.

"Nothing" was the most popular response when asked what Canadians liked best about the three leaders:

• Justin Trudeau: 29.3 per cent
• Andrew Scheer: 29.5 per cent
• Jagmeet Singh: 26.3 per cent

Looking past that, 25.9 per cent of people said they didn’t know enough about Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, and 18 per cent said the same about NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

Points of contention for Scheer included his beliefs (12.3 per cent) and a lack of charisma (4 per cent), while respondents voiced concern with Singh’s perceived support for Sikh separatism (13.6 per cent) and his lack of experience (6.9 per cent).

The hybrid telephone and online survey of 1,000 Canadians was conducted from April 7 to 10 and has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.

'We know the stakes'

As for Nanos' latest national federal tracking, , the Liberals have regained some ground, after being locked in a close fight with the Tories for the top spot for support.

Among accessible voters -- the proportion of Canadians that would consider voting for each party -- just over half said they would consider casting a ballot for the Liberals, versus 44 per cent for Conservatives and 36 per cent for the NDP. 

Broken down by party:

Liberals:

• 51 per cent would consider
• 41 per cent would not consider 
• 8 per cent unsure

Conservatives:

• 44 per cent would consider
• 45 per cent would not consider
• 12 per cent unsure

NDP:

• 36 per cent would consider
• 52 per cent would not consider 
• 12 per cent unsure

The latest Nanos ballot tracking, which asks respondents to rank the top two parties they would consider voting for, also had the Liberals ahead:

• Liberals: 41.1 per cent
• Conservatives: 29.2 per cent
• NDP: 15.8 per cent

The weekly tracking figures are based on a four-week rolling sample composed of 1,000 interviews. To update the tracking, a new week of 250 interviews is added and the oldest week dropped. The margin of error for a survey of 1,000 respondents is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

"What was a close race now has changed where the Liberals are starting to pull ahead of the Conservatives again," Nanos said. "In the last four weeks the numbers for the Liberals have been moving up, the further the distance from the prime minister’s controversial trip to India."

The budget-eclipsing India trip, marijuana legalization, and most recently, pipelines are among the issues dogging the party at nearly three years in power as they effort to push ahead and tick off as many mandate commitments as possible before Canadians go back to the polls.

The work done, and what is left to do, was something referenced during the opening remarks at the convention.

"In just 18 months Canadians will head to the polls. We know the stakes," Liberal Party President Anna Gainey told to the full room Thursday night, adding that their opponents are "tireless" in efforts to "undermine" their record and progress. "We need to double down and recommit to the hope and hard work that got us here."

"Let's continue to work together to make sure that we allow him [Trudeau] to continue on that journey of being the prime minister of this great country," Nova Scotia Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil told delegates.

Trudeau is expected to arrive in Halifax on Friday evening, and will be giving a keynote address at the tail end of the convention on Saturday afternoon.

The gathering is the first time to rally the troops ahead of the 2019 campaign. It is the last official gathering of the party as a whole before the next election.

'Things can change'

The convention got underway in earnest Thursday evening, but delegates filed in throughout the afternoon, with many attending the Youth, Indigenous Peoples, Women’s and Seniors’ Commission meetings.

Attendees Â鶹ӰÊÓ spoke with said that despite the relatively comfortable position their party has managed to maintain in the polls, they aren’t taking anything for granted.

"Things can change really quickly," former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan told Â鶹ӰÊÓ.

"We don’t really look at polls good or bad. We’re really more focused on other numbers, like the more than 100,000 people that have registered to become Liberals," said incoming Liberal Party President Suzanne Cowan, referencing the membership uptick since the party made membership free at their last convention in Winnipeg.

Over the next two days Liberals will be hearing from a number of federal cabinet ministers and MPs, will attend pre-election campaign training sessions, and will debate and vote on new policy ideas.

There has been an increase in the number of first-time delegates, as well as youth and female attendees, according to the party.

"I'm hoping to learn what actually the Liberal party cares about and see whether it will resonate with what I think," said first time delegate Habiba Mohamud who travelled from Edmonton for the convention.

CTVNews.ca will have full coverage from the convention online and on social media all weekend.