At least one-third of Western Canadians think it's time for their provinces to consider quitting Canada, a new poll suggests.

The survey was commissioned by Western Standard magazine, a right-leaning bimonthly news and opinion magazine founded in 2004 by Ezra Levant, a former Reform Party and Alliance Party activist.

The magazine's survey found that 35.6 per cent of respondents from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia agreed that "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country."

The poll claims that Albertans, at 42 per cent, were most likely to consider independence, followed by Saskatchewan at 31.9 per cent.

"Westerners are very frustrated with their position in Confederation," said Faron Ellis, a political science professor at Lethbridge Community College, who conducted the survey.

Ellis said that separatist sentiment appeared to run highest among young people -- 37 per cent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 were open to the notion of breaking away from Canada.

Support was lowest -- 33.7 per cent -- among the baby boom generation aged between 45 and 64.

The Western Standard commissioned the survey to assess how well the federal government has been managing the issue of western alienation -- something that Prime Minister Martin promised to reduce as part of his 2004 election campaign.

In the poll's supplementary questions, 64 per cent of respondents said Martin had done a "poor job" at ending western alienation.

Ellis claims the increasing attractiveness of the separation option is the result of a combination of factors. In addition to a disaffection with Martin, he says westerners believe other methods of effecting political change have been tried repeatedly with no success.

"From Western leaders of federal parties like Joe Clark and the Conservatives, compromising on the leadership with Mulroney, that didn't change anything," said Ellis.

"Having powerful ministers in the cabinet didn't change anything. Having Lougheed --and then Klein, to a lesser extent -- stand up for the province, that didn't fix any fundamental injustices. Starting a Western party -- well, you can't succeed if you are regional. We've been through that. All conceivable options for many westerners that can be tried have been tried and seem to have failed. So you are left with no options," Ellis said.

The poll was conducted around Canada Day, between June 29 and July 5, 2005, when sentiment for federation was expected to have been running at its peak.

The results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.6 percentage point, 19 times out of 20.