Nearly half of Canadians visited with family or friends over the winter holiday period despite public health guidelines to limit contact amid rising COVID-19 cases, a new poll suggests.  The Léger/Association for Canadian Studies poll found 48 percent of those surveyed visited with people outside their households, compared to 52 percent who said they did not. Of those who did visit with friends or family outside their homes, 34 percent did it once, 12 percent two or three times, and two percent did it often. As COVID-19 infection numbers rise across the country, the poll suggests 62 percent surveyed have little to no confidence in Canada’s ability to limit the spread of the virus over the next few weeks. That pessimism is notable, considering that before the holidays polls suggested Canadians were feeling optimistic about 2021, said Léger vice-president Christian Bourque. But stories in the waning days of 2020 about …