Canada's Conservative government was losing support from most Canadians on two major issues, with more than half of the population opposing its decision to extend the country's military missions in Afghanistan and its hostile stand toward the Kyoto treaty, a survey said on Sunday.

Ottawa's decision to extend military deployment in Afghanistan by two years had the support of just four out of 10 Canadians, according to the survey by Decima Research.

Fifty-four percent opposed the move, including 24 percent who were "strongly" opposed.

Fewer than a third of respondents were siding with the Tory government's strategy of playing down the Kyoto accord in favor of a "made-in-Canada" approach to climate change, and 59 percent said the accord was important for Canada and the country should not withdraw from it.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper narrowly won parliamentary approval last month to extend the Afghan mission beyond its original expiry date next February.

On Kyoto, although the government had not said it wanted to pull out of the treaty, it said repeatedly that it was impossible to meet the emission reduction targets and emphasized that it wanted to draw up a new plan.

The telephone poll of 1,020 respondents was conducted on May 25-28.

Bruce Anderson, the CEO of Decima, pointed out it did not appear that dissatisfaction over the Afghan and Kyoto policies was strong enough to undermine the government's overall popularity.

Other figures from the same survey period, which were released previously, indicated the Conservatives were the party of choice for 38 percent of respondents, compared with 29 percent for the Liberals, 21 for the New Democratic Party and eight for the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The Tories resumed power earlier this year after defeating the Liberals in the January federal election, the first time in 13 years.

Source: Xinhua