5 keys to victory: Conservative, NDP, Liberal priorities in home stretch

His early gaffes, his silly pronouncements and naive musings, his lack of knowledge on major issues – all this led to the perception that he was “not ready”, not because of his age (Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was only three years older when he became prime minister), but because of his political immaturity and his less-than-stellar professional record.

The message surfaced last week as well at an all-candidates debate hosted by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, where Conservative candidate and incumbent MP Terence Young said there are two key choices presented for voters in this election, national versus local. To get there, one drives past farmers’ fields and a pumpkin patch, straight into what had been the riding of Conservative Pierre Poilievre.

For more coverage, see our election section here. Yet that is the most probable effect of the expanded Canada Pension Plan both the Liberals and NDP are touting (though implementing it would require provincial approval): whatever increase in savings individuals are forced to make through the government-run plan is likely to be offset by reductions in private savings.

Leadnow aims to guide citizens to elect whichever non-Conservative candidate in their riding has the best chance of winning, regardless of party affiliation.

Let’s exercise it. Let’s vote Harper and his Conservatives out.

The get out the vote (GOTV) effort of each party will be crucial in deciding who forms the government: in 2011, for example, 52 seats were decided by less than five per cent of the vote. Almost 5,000 volunteers have been canvassing door-to-door and by phone for weeks, and organizers have harnessed the power of the Internet to connect like-minded voters. “People keep saying it’s been tried before and hasn’t worked”.

Defend your own interests on Election Day.

At least one expert thinks they have a shot.

If history is any guide, a win by Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in next week’s election bodes well for Canadian stocks.

“Whether there’s the possibility to engineer it is the question”.

Another campaign tried to surmount that problem using more data.

Check elections.ca to find your polling station and register to vote.

Given that the Liberals now lead in the polls while the NDP has fallen to a distant third, this is a pledge to assist Justin Trudeau in becoming prime minster, as the head either of a Liberal minority government or a Liberal-NDP coalition.

With half an hour to go before the event, Liberal supporters took up every parking spot of the strip mall in which Arya’s office sits, with a crowd in front of the office and a line snaking around the lot.

In Quebec, where EKOS saw a three-way tie on Sunday, with the NDP at 27, Liberals at 25 and Conservatives at 24 per cent, by Tuesday EKOS was reporting the Liberals surging to 31 per cent, with the NDP at 30 per cent – and the Conservatives plummeting to 17 per cent.

An apparent newcomer on the strategic voting scene took out a full-page ad Tuesday in the Globe and Mail newspaper.

The poll also suggests that provincewide support for the Green party has slipped to three per cent, the lowest level in seven years.

The Conservative leader missed the other side of the equation in this instance.

We’re monitoring the polls, so you don’t have to.

Wallace says voters in Burlington, about a fifth of whom are seniors, are well informed and engaged.

The focus on Trudeau, nearly to the exclusion of Tom Mulcair, came as the Liberal leader appeared to be gaining momentum in a few polls, while they had the New Democrat leader tracking third.