Canadian Conservatives surge in poll

TORONTO, April 12 (UPI) -- Canada's minority Conservative government logged a popularity spike in a poll published Monday by the Canwest News Service.

The Ipsos Reid telephone poll conducted April 6-8 of 1,003 voting-age citizens said 37 percent of respondents supported Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government versus 27 percent support for the official opposition Liberal Party led by Michael Ignatieff,

The results show a 3-percent gain for the Conservatives from a similar poll last month, the report said.

The socialist New Democratic Party logged a 3 percent decline in support in the poll to 15 percent.

Harper's minority government doesn't appear to be in danger of being voted down in a non-confidence measure by the three opposition parties, although domestic political controversies have arisen in recent days that could affect future popularity polls.

The Ipsos Reid poll had a 3.1 percent margin of error, the report said.