(EKOS)

The ruling Conservatives have widened their lead over the Liberals even as fewer Canadians believe the government is headed in the right direction, an EKOS poll suggests.

The poll, conducted exclusively for CBC News, found 33.1 per cent of Canadians surveyed would vote for the Conservatives "if a federal election were held tomorrow."

That's a gain of 1.2 percentage points from a week ago and increases the party's lead to 4.2 percentage points over the Liberals, who dropped slightly in their popularity — by 0.7 of a point — to 28.9 per cent.

The NDP also dropped slightly, from 16 per cent to 15.7 per cent.

EKOS surveyed a random sample of 2,302 Canadians aged 18 and over by telephone between March 10 and 16. The deemed margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Conservatives saw an 8.1-point increase in popularity in Alberta alone, the greatest of any province. Support dipped most in British Columbia, from 36.4 per cent to 32 per cent.

Right, wrong direction almost tied

At the same time, the number of Canadians polled who said the Conservative government is heading in the right direction dipped slightly to 44.2 per cent, from 45.5 per cent the week before.

The number who said it is heading in the wrong direction increased 1.1 percentage points to 44.9 per cent.

As in previous polls, the vast majority of those who feel the government is headed in the right direction, or 80 per cent, identified themselves as intending to support the Conservative Party of Canada.

There was also a spike in the number of respondents who identified themselves as Bloc Québécois supporters who feel the government is headed in the right direction: 26.7 per cent, compared with 18.1 per cent the week before.

The margin of error in these polls increases when the results are broken down into sub-categories like age, sex, religion or education.