OTTAWA — B.C. voters in a handful of Conservative-held ridings appear cool to the notion of giving Stephen Harper a new mandate, suggests to a poll released Friday.

The Insights West poll of four ridings — three urban and one in the Interior — was funded by the Dogwood Initiative, an anti-pipeline organization that is trying to provide guidance to voters looking to vote strategically to oust the Conservatives.

The poll suggested that the Conservative party is in varying degrees of trouble in the four ridings heading into the October election. However, Conservatives tend to perform better in elections than between-election polls suggest.

An added factor in Harper’s favour is that voters aren’t clear in at least two of the four ridings who they should vote for to drive the prime minister from power.

“Definitely,” said Insights vice-president Mario Canseco when asked if some British Columbians are uneasy about Harper but not ready to hop on NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s bandwagon.

Voters in those two ridings, encompassing the high-income cities of North and West Vancouver, are leaning more to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals than Mulcair, according to the poll.

Telephone polls were conducted earlier this month in the interior riding, South Okanagan-West Kootenay, and three urban battlegrounds, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky Country, North Vancouver, and Vancouver South. Roughly 300 were surveyed in each riding, typical of such polls.

In the West Vancouver riding, held by Conservative John Weston, there is a tight three-way battle, with the Liberals at 23 per cent, the Conservatives 22, the NDP 19, and the Greens nine per cent. One per cent named other parties and the rest were “not sure.” Given the poll’s margin of error is 5.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, that effectively puts the top three parties in a three-way tie.

Asked which party’s leader would make the best prime minister, 28 per cent named the NDP, 24 per cent Conservative, 22 per cent Liberal, and 11 per cent Green.

In the redrawn North Vancouver riding that Tory incumbent Andrew Saxton is defending, it’s another three-way tie, with the Liberals are at 25 per cent, the Conservatives 24, the NDP 19, the Greens 11, “other” one per cent, and the rest unsure. On the leadership question, 29 per cent in North Vancouver named the NDP, 28 per cent said Conservative, 23 per cent said Liberal, and five per cent said Green.

If the poll is at all accurate, Conservative Wai Young is in trouble in Vancouver South. The Liberals have a clear lead at 27 per cent, with the NDP at 21, the Conservatives 17, the Greens three, and “other” at two per cent. On leadership, 27 per cent there said Liberal, 26 Conservative, 24 NDP, and three per cent Green.

The interior riding surveyed — South Okanagan-West Kootenay — is a new one. As it is one of a handful of rural B.C. areas the Tories didn’t win by a landslide in 2011, it shouldn’t be seen as a barometer for what might happen outside big cities.

This new riding appears to be a likely NDP seat after the October election, according to Canseco. It is mostly made up of a previous riding where voters by a narrow margin voted Conservative in 2011. The redistribution added part of the old B.C.-Southern Interior riding held by retiring New Democrat MP Alex Atamanenko.

The NDP is at a commanding 44 per cent, with the Conservatives at 20, the Liberals nine, the Greens five, other parties two per cent, and the rest unsure. Asked about leadership, 37 per cent said NDP, 24 Conservative, and 18 per cent chose the Liberals.