OTTAWA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Conservative Party maintained a substantial lead over major rival the Liberal Party, though support for the ruling party fell slightly, according to a new poll released on Thursday.

    The Conservatives were put at 38.3 percent, down from 40.7 percent last week, while the Liberals' support rose to 27.1 percent from 25.5 percent, according to the EKOS weekly poll, commissioned by national broadcaster the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

    The leftist New Democratic Party rose 0.2 percentage points to 14.5 percent, while Green Party support grew half a percentage point to 11 percent.

    Support for the Bloc Quebecois slipped by 0.1 percentage points to nine percent.

    This latest poll was conducted on 3,270 Canadians by phone between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20.

    The two parties were locked in a dead heat for some time in the summer, but support for the Liberals began to nosedive following the party's decision to seek an early election in September.

    Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said in earlier October he was taking notice of the falling poll numbers for his party and decided not to actively pursue attempts to bring down the government, though the party will still not support the Conservatives on confidence motions.