Ottawa: Canadian voters go to the polls tomorrow for a third election in four years, becoming the first G7 nation to cast ballots since the start of a global financial meltdown.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his main rival Liberal leader Stephane Dion set off today on nationwide blitzes to firm up support and woo many still undecided voters in the dying hours of the campaign.
Harper is predicted to win his second mandate since January 2006, with the latest polls placing him at five percentage points ahead of Dion.
But with one-third of Canadians still uncertain of their intentions, and three other mainstream parties nipping at the front-runner's heels, a Conservative victory is by no means assured.
"In this election, ours is the only party running on a strong record and a clear plan ... That in the midst of this world financial crisis have kept our economy creating jobs, kept our budget balanced and kept your bank accounts safe and secure," Harper said at his first whistle stop in the town of Cornwall, Prince Edward Island.
He urged supporters to push hard to the finish line: "We need every vote we can get." "In this close election, there is no guarantee we will win," Harper said, before flying to Fredericton in easternmost Canada and ending his day in Vancouver on the Pacific Coast.
Dion meanwhile called on voters to "stop Stephen Harper," saying the incumbent prime minister "has no plan" to safeguard Canada's economy from the worldwide woes provoked by a collapse in the US sub-prime mortgage market.
