OTTAWA — The Conservative government has the support of just four out of 10 Canadians for its decision to extend the military mission in Afghanistan for another two years, a new poll indicates.

The survey, provided to The Canadian Press by Decima Research, also suggests fewer than a third of respondents are onside with a Tory strategy of playing down the Kyoto accord in favour of a "made-in-Canada'' approach to climate change.

On both issues, support is especially weak in Quebec, the province targeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's strategists as the key to their hopes to transform the present minority government into a majority one in the next election.

The national totals showed 41 per cent of those questioned expressed support (including 11 per cent who said it was "strong'' support) for extending the Afghan troop deployment an additional two years.

Fifty-four per cent opposed the move (including 24 per cent who were "strongly'' opposed) with the balance undecided or refusing to answer.

Support was weakest by far in Quebec, where 31per cent were in favour of extending the mission while 64 per cent were opposed. Backing for the move was strongest in Alberta, where respondents favoured the extension by a 55-40 margin.

As for Kyoto, 59 per cent nationally said the accord is important for Canada and the country should not withdraw from the treaty. Thirty-one per cent said it doesn't matter if Ottawa sticks to the deal, as long as there is an alternative plan in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Quebecers backed Kyoto by 66 per cent to 27, while Albertans opted for an alternative approach by 50 to 41.

The telephone poll of 1,020 respondents was conducted May 25-28. The results are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

Bruce Anderson, the CEO of Decima, pointed out that it doesn't appear -- at this point -- that dissatisfaction over the Afghan and Kyoto policies is strong enough to undermine the government's overall popularity.

Other figures from the same survey period, released previously, indicated the Conservatives were the party of choice for 38 per cent of respondents, compared with 29 per cent for the Liberals, 21 for the NDP and eight for the Bloc Quebecois nationally. In Quebec, the Bloc had a 35-31 edge over the second-place Tories.

The general support doesn't mean the Conservatives can rest easy and ignore the findings on specific hot-button issues, said Anderson.

"Extending the Afghanistan mission, while at the same time moving away from the Kyoto accord, puts the government at odds with voters they need to build support with if they want to assemble a majority.''

The latest numbers indicated women were less likely than men to support the Afghan mission, while female respondents were more likely to back Kyoto than were males.

Younger people were less likely than older ones to approve the military deployment in Afghanistan, but more likely to support the Kyoto accord.

Support on both issues was also polarized along party lines, with Conservative voters most likely to back the military mission and oppose Kyoto, while the reverse was true for Liberal, NDP and Bloc voters.

Harper narrowly won parliamentary approval last month to extend the Afghan mission beyond its original expiry date next February. Tory MPs were solidly in support of the move, while the Liberals were split and the NDP and Bloc unanimously opposed.

On Kyoto, the Tories have not said they want to pull out of the treaty. But they have said it's impossible to meet the emission reduction targets accepted by the previous Liberal government and have emphasized they want to draw up a new plan.