Canadian Conservatives well ahead in poll

OTTAWA, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The ruling Canadian Conservative party has a 9 percentage point popularity lead on its nearest rival, the Liberal party, in a poll published Tuesday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives had 39 percent support in the Ipsos Reid poll of 1,001 voters nationwide for the Canwest News Service.

Michael Ignatieff's Liberal party had 30 percent support, while the socialist New Democratic Party dipped 2 points to 12 percent and the Green party fell two points to 8 percent in the poll taken Sept. 10-13.

The separatist Bloc Quebecois had 9 percent support and 7 percent of respondents were undecided.

The results were published a day after Parliament reconvened under the Liberal threat of voting Harper's minority government down in a non-confidence vote and forcing a November election, which would be the country's fourth in five years.

However, the poll indicated there was little support for another vote, as 71 percent of respondents agreed with the poll statement the "political process is operating just fine at the moment and there is no need for an election."

The poll had a 3.1 percentage point margin of error, Ipsos Reid said.

The soonest the Liberals can attempt a non-confidence maneuver is Friday, when a budgetary ways and means bill is due for a vote. The Conservatives need the support of only one opposition party to survive.