A senior Conservative says a small Liberal bounce in the polls won't stop his party's desire to trigger an election.

"Not at all. We're ready, I think the Canadian people are ready," MP John Reynolds, who is the Tories' national campaign chair, told CTV News.

"But I'd say to the Liberals: If you're buoyed by these polls, give us the opposition days that we're entitled to, give us one this week and we'll go to the people and let the people decide."

A poll by The Strategic Counsel for CTV and The Globe and Mail and released Thursday, showed the Liberals and Conservatives statistically tied. Here's the breakdown:

• Liberals: 30 per cent
• Conservatives: 28 per cent
• NDP: 18 per cent

One thousand people were sampled, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

On Saturday, the Toronto Star released an Ekos poll that puts the Liberals at 32.5 per cent, the Tories at 30.5 per cent and the NDP at 19 per cent.

Ekos surveyed 1,200 people between Tuesday and Thursday. The poll's results are considered to be accurate within plus or minus 2.8 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Tuesday was a significant day because the Liberals and NDP made a deal under which the NDP would throw its support to the federal budget. The deal would see spending boosted in several areas deemed priorities by the NDP and would defer some corporate tax cuts.

Since then the Conservatives have been accusing the Liberals of buying support, but Liberal popularity have shown slight improvement while the Conservatives' numbers have fallen.

The Liberals suggest what's helping their popularity is Prime Minister Paul Martin's April 20 commitment to calling an election within 30 days of the Gomery Commission issuing its report -- an idea the polls suggest that voters like.

"I think there is evidence the prime minister's message is beginning to resonate," said Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.

The most likely window for an early election would be if the government loses a non-confidence motion on May 18 or 19, leading to a June 27 vote. The last federal election was held on June 28, 2004.

In Toronto on Saturday, NDP Leader Jack Layton was working the streets of his Toronto-Danforth riding for part of the day. He argued voters there agree with his approach of working with the Liberals to pass the budget before any attempt to topple the government through a non-confidence motion.

"They're mad as anyone else about the corruption, they want it dealt with, but they really feel the election should happen after there's been some positive outcome from the House," he told CTV News.

The NDP's support alone isn't enough to guarantee the budget will pass -- or that the government will survive a possible non-confidence vote.

This puts more pressure on independent MPs like Chuck Cadman, who claims calls from his constituents are about two-to-one in favour of supporting the Liberals.

"They were still angry with the government and they didn't like the things they were hearing, but they wanted to hold off with an election," he said.

Reynolds claimed it was a dirty tricks operation by the Liberals to sway Cadman's vote.

Both the Liberals and Cadman deny the charge.

With a report from CTV's Roger Smith