Poll: Bloc Quebecois loses support

MONTREAL, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Voter support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois fell to a tie with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives, a poll indicated Friday.

The Leger Marketing poll of likely Quebec voters found the Bloc -- which defines itself as devoted to the promotion of sovereignty for Quebec, Canada's second most populous province -- tied with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives at 30 percent in Quebec.

The results, released days before Harper was expected to call for an Oct. 14 election, suggest that if the election were held now, "the Conservatives would get several seats in Quebec in the next Parliament," Christian Bourque, Leger vice president of research, told UPI.

In the January 2006 election, the Bloc took 42 percent of the vote in Quebec and the Conservatives received 25 percent.

Conservatives have 127 of 308 House of Commons seats and need 155 to win a majority.

The Leger poll found centrist Liberals at 23 percent, up slightly from the 21 percent they won in the last election. Leftist New Democrats received support of 11 percent of likely voters and the Greens 5 percent, the poll indicated.

The Quebec poll of 1,001 men and women was conducted by telephone between Aug. 29 and Sept. 3 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 points.