In The Lead-Up To The Second Leaders Debate, Tories On The March

Toronto, ON -- As the second set of debates scheduled for next week nears, a new Ipsos Reid CanWest News Service/Global News survey reports the Conservatives as now holding a 4-point lead over the Liberals nationally.

If a federal election were held tomorrow, the Conservatives would receive 35% support (+2 points), the Liberals 31% (-1 point), the NDP 18% (unchanged), and the Green Party 5% (unchanged).

In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois now hold 45% of federal votes (-7 points) versus the Liberals at 23% (-3 points) and the Conservative Party at 19% (+7 points).

And in Ontario, the Conservatives at 39% (+1 point) now have a 5-point lead over the Liberals (34%, -2 points).

Seat Range Projection Model: Conservatives 129-133 Seats, Liberals 87-91, NDP 27-31, Bloc 56-60

Ipsos Reid's seat model projects that if a vote were held tomorrow, the Conservatives would have a potential of 129-133 seats, the Liberals would have a potential of 87-91 seats, the NDP would have a potential of 27-31 seats, and the Bloc Quebecois would have a potential of 56-60 seats. In order to achieve a majority government, a party needs a minimum of 155 seats in the House of Commons.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News and fielded from January 2nd to January 5th 2006. For this survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 2004 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the aggregate results are considered accurate to within 1772.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within each sub-grouping of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Please open attached files to view full press release and detailed tables.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Dr. Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

Alexandra Evershed
Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
613.241.5802
[email protected]

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Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader and the country's leading provider of public opinion research. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos-Reid employs more than 300 researcher professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in Canada, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and on-line panels. Ipsos Reid's Canadian marketing research and public affairs practices are staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, offering the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada -- including the Ipsos Trend Report, the leading source of public opinion in the country -- all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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