Conservatives lead in new opinion poll
Sat Apr 14, 7:45 AM



TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Conservatives are ahead of all other parties, but don't have enough support to be sure of winning a parliamentary majority in the country's next election, according to an opinion poll published on Saturday.


The Ipsos-Reid poll, published in the National Post newspaper, put support for the Conservatives at 38 percent, up from the 37 percent they won in the last election, but short of the 40 percent considered enough to ensure a majority.


"The reality is they would win (an election) with these numbers, but for a majority there is still some work to be done," pollster Darrell Bricker told the newspaper.


No date has been set for the next election, but most observers expect it to be held next year, or possibly later this year.


The opposition Liberals had 32 percent support, while the left-wing New Democratic Party had 14 percent.


The poll also showed a surge in Conservative support in French-speaking Quebec, where they were 10 points ahead of the Liberals for the first time, with 31 percent.


The separatist Bloc Quebecois, which campaigns only in Quebec, had 30 percent support in the province.


The Conservatives have only a minority of seats in the federal parliament, and need support from at least one other political party to stay in power.


Ipsos-Reid polled 834 Canadians between Tuesday and Thursday of this week and considers its survey accurate to within 3.4 percentage points 19 times out of 20. The margin of error is larger for provincial results.