Poll: Canadian Liberals faring poorly

OTTAWA, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Canada's Liberal Party would fare even worse than it did last October if a federal election were held now, a poll indicates.

The party under former leader Stephane Dion received only 26.3 percent of the vote in last year's election as it lost to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives -- their worst showing since Cananda's very first general election in 1867. But a new Ipsos Reid poll suggests the party under Michael Ignatieff would do even worse, Canwest News Service reported Monday.

The poll indicated the Liberals have just 25 percent of support among all Canadians while 40 percent said they would vote for the Conservatives even following criticism last week for playing politics with federal economic stimulus spending, Canwest said.

"The Liberals, these days, just have no traction at all," Ipsos Reid CEO Darrell Bricker told the news service, but warning that the Conservative vote tends to be "inefficient" -- concentrated in provinces such as Alberta where its intense support doesn't translate into more seats and a Parliamentary majority.

Canwest said Ipsos Reid surveyed 1,003 Canadians Oct. 20-22, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.