Totonto Star: Minority government still likely, poll shows

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Toronto Star
Dated Thursday May 19

Minority still likely, poll shows
Little has changed from 2004 vote, pollster finds
It's decision day as Martin faces confidence votes
By Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau Chief

Ottawa -Canada sits perched today on the verge of a federal election that neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals should be keen to provoke, according to a Toronto Star poll released today.

In the same week that MP Belinda Stronach slammed the door on the Conservatives by joining Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals, the poll by EKOS Research Associates shows that a public-opinion window has been closing for the Tories as well.

The Liberals have recovered from a scandal-provoked plummet in the polls only weeks ago and are back up to 34.7 per cent support nationally, the Star/La Presse EKOS poll shows, while the Conservatives are at 28.3 per cent and the New Democrats at 18.4 per cent. The Bloc Québécois is at 12.6 per cent and the Green party 5.6 per cent.

In Ontario, which has 106 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberals lead the Tories by 15 percentage points — 45 per cent to 30 per cent.

Read more.