Canadians started voting in fiercely-contested parliamentary elections

If Mr Harper wins, he will become the first Canadian prime minister since 1908 to triumph in four consecutive elections.

Surveys released on the eve of the ballot gave the Liberals a seven-point lead.

Harper, 56, visited districts he won in the 2011 election in an attempt to hang onto them. When the election was called 11 weeks ago, B.C. was represented by 36 members of Parliament, including 31 Conservatives, 12 New Democrats, two Liberals and one Green.

Without a clear majority, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau will need to form a coalition.

Mr Trudeau’s father, Pierre, is considered the father of modern Canada.

In one that played out early on, Harper’s former chief of staff testified against a Conservative senator accused of bribery, breach of trust and fraud.

David Axelrod, a political consultant who helped Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008, tweeted congratulations to Trudeau’s top advisers for running a great campaign, saying “Hope beats fear”, the AP said. Conversely, the New Democratic Party bash, led by Tom Mulcair, started as the front-runner in polls, exclusively to fall to 3rd throughout a marketing crusade that, at times, left all three parties in statistical lifeless heats.

Canadians are heading to the polls today for what promises to be one of the closest elections in the country’s history.

Legally, employers can’t make deductions from a worker’s pay or impose any other penalty as a result of the absence, says Chopra – if they do, they could face serious penalties.

That’s because whichever party wins will likely only win a minority government, and will have a harder time getting things done than with a majority government.

It’s never a good sign when an incumbent spends the last days of the campaign trying to shore up his base.

Harper, who has been prime minister since 2006, is running for a rare fourth term. If you left it too late and have not yet registered to vote in the federal general election you can do so at the polls. In the Pacific region, including B.C., the polls open at 7:00 a.m. and in Saskatchewan and Mountain time, polls open at 7:30 a.m. Your address is needed to determine which polling station you must vote at.

Addressing a 1,000-strong crowd in Edmonton in the oil-rich province of Alberta, his rival Trudeau indirectly addressed the lingering hostility toward his father, Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister for all but about nine months from 1968 to 1984.

“Canadians deserve change in Ottawa”, Mulcair told a crowd in Toronto on Sunday.