Ottawa - Canada's minority Liberal government is heading for defeat at the hands of the Conservatives after more than 11 years in power, a dramatic new poll predicted on Monday.
The EKOS poll, commissioned by the Toronto Star newspaper, was taken after an advertising executive raised the stakes in a scandal about misuse of government cash with testimony of large kickbacks to the Liberal Party.
The poll, conducted after the executive's testimony was released last Thursday, showed voter support for the Conservatives rose seven points to 36.2 percent while the Liberals fell by nine points to just 25 percent.
It was the lowest showing for the Liberals since they took office in November 1993. Public support for the party dipped as low as 29 percent in the run-up to last June's election, but the party recovered to poll 36.7 percent on election day.
The latest figures point to a far deeper erosion in Liberal support than was the case so far, especially in the populous province of Ontario, where there are 106 seats in parliament.
In a long-awaited breakthrough, the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by 40 percent to 33 percent in Ontario, probably enough to take the majority of Ontario's 106 seats.
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