A new EKOS poll shows the Conservative Party has fallen away from its recent high. But the slip has not benefited the Liberals.

Moreover, 49.2 percent of those polled said the country is moving in the right direction, compared to 39.1 percent who said it;s moving in the wrong direction.

But the direction of the government was approved by only 38.9 percent, compared to 48 percent who thought the government is moving in the wrong direction.

The EKOS news release said the Liberals "remain stuck in the mid-twenties, near to their worst-ever election performance (in terms of votes) in 2008." The release also quoted EKOS president Frank Graves:

"There has been a lot of buzz lately about Jack Layton and the NDP. The fact is that although Layton is the most popular of the national leaders at the moment, his party is at about the same plateau as it has been since Layton became leader, in the high teens. A further breakthrough is possible, but it is not yet visible."

The poll found that the Conservatives were at 33.6 percent in British Columbia, with the NDP at 26.9 percent. Federal Liberals in B.C. were at 19.8 percent, not far ahead of the 16.8 percent supporting the Greens.

And in Vancouver, EKOS found the Conservatives at 33.9 percent, the NDP at 27.5 percent, the Liberals at 21.3 percent, and the Greens at 15.6 percent.

The poll was conducted from May 26 to June 1, and involved 2,827 Canadian aged 18 or older. The margin of error is +/-1.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.