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OTTAWA - Canada's main opposition party has made significant gains in public opinion and is now virtually tied with the ruling Conservatives going into the next session of parliament, according to a poll released on Thursday.
The EKOS survey, conducted for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, found 29.4 per cent of respondents would vote for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives if an election were held now, compared to 29.1 per cent for the Liberals.
The Tories held an 11-point lead at the close of the last parliamentary session in June.
But a mid-summer decision to scrap a mandatory long-form census has irked an array of interest groups who say the data is needed for public and private sector policy decisions.
The Conservatives said the questionnaire amounted to an unnecessary intrusion of privacy into Canadians' lives.
Some 56 per cent of Canadians oppose the change to a voluntary census form, according to the survey.
"In seeking an explanation for these movements, we need look no further than the government's ill-received decision to end the mandatory long form census," EKOS said, noting a massive shift in support among the university-educated.
"This move precipitated the current woes that the Conservative Party now faces."
Harper's minority government needs the support of at least one of Canada's three opposition parties to remain in power.
Parliament is due to return on September 20, and promises to be dizzying session debating crime, gun control and the economy.
But neither Harper, nor Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff are seeking to trigger a fall election, they have said.
The survey of 3,559 Canadians was conducted on August 18-31, with a 1.6 per cent margin of error.
- AFP/al
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