Conservatives have slight edge in battle for Ontario

Calgary:– Tight regional races are emerging between the Liberals and Conservatives in the battle for Ontario, a new poll finds.
A recently released Mainstreet Technology/ Postmedia poll suggests that province-wide, the Conservatives lead the Liberals in Ontario by four percentage points with 38 per cent support.
“The resiliency of the Conservative vote continues to surprise, last week we found them leading in British Columbia substantially and today we find they continue to lead in Ontario despite a Liberal surge,” Mainstreet Research’s president Quito Maggi said in a written statement accompanying the poll.
“The Liberals are just 4% back among all voters and among decided and leaning voters. The NDP finds itself in third place in Ontario with just 22% among decided and leaning voters, 12% back of the second place Liberals.”
In Toronto, the Liberals have a comfortable six per cent lead over the Conservatives at 34 per cent and the NDP sits with 21 per cent support in the 416.
In the 905, the Tories appear to have 33 per cent support, a four per cent lead over the Liberals.
The Conservatives also appear to be stronger in south central Ontario with a three per cent lead over the Liberals, which have about 26 per cent support.
“Liberals continue to surge across Ontario at the expense of the NDP but lead in just a single region, Toronto,” Maggi said.
“A hint at the cause of the resurgence of the federal Conservatives can be seen when we look at the provincial voting intentions, the Progressive Conservatives (40 per cent) lead the Ontario Liberals (30 per cent) by 10 per cent among decided and leaning voters. Provincial issues have come in to play federally across Ontario including the proposed Hydro One sale, the sex-ed curriculum and ongoing disputes with Teachers unions.”
The survey, which was conducted on Sept. 21, polled 4,610 Ontario voters and is considered accurate plus or minus 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.