Pre- Debate Poll Shows Conservatives Widen Gap As Grit Vote Collapses

Toronto, ON -A new Ipsos Reid on-line survey conducted during the weekend leading up to the second set of candidate debates now frames the Conservative Party as having extended their lead over the Liberals and firmly positioned to win a minority government come January 23rd if vote intentions remain stable.

The Ipsos Reid survey, conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News from January 6th to January 8th, was fielded among an Ipsos Reid panel of 7,787 Canadians who say they are either "absolutely certain" or "very likely" to vote on election day.

According to the survey, if a federal election were held tomorrow, the Conservatives would receive 37% support (+2 points from an earlier survey of this sub-group conducted from January 2nd to January 5th, 2005), the Liberals would receive 26% (-5 points), the NDP 18% (unchanged), and the Green party 5% (+1 point).

In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois hold 53% of the federal vote.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News from January 6th to January 8th, 2006. A total of 7787 Canadian voters were surveyed via the internet, yielding results which are accurate to within 177 1.1% (19 times out of 20). The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. The data were statistically weighted to ensure that the sample's age, sex, regional and party support composition reflects that of the actual Canadian voter population. The sample was drawn from a pre-recruited panel of over 12,000 voters drawn from Ipsos Reid's internet panel. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900