Canadian election too close to call

 

Conservative leader Stephen Harper. Photo: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP

Canadians go to the polls on Tuesday with the option of choosing to "stay the course" with the Conservatives or plump for change touted by the Liberals and New Democrats, in legislative elections too close to call.
In power since 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is seeking a fourth mandate, hoping to hold on to key Conservative support in the western plains and in suburban Toronto.
But the 56-year-old faces stiff opposition from his emboldened rivals.
In one corner is Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, 43, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who is considered the father of modern Canada.
The Liberals have sneaked ahead in the most recent opinion polls.
In the other corner is Thomas Mulcair, 60, head of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and looking to build on a second-place finish in 2011 and govern for the first time.
The social democrats started the campaign - one of the longest in Canadian history - in July as the frontrunner, promising new social spending but no budget deficits or tax rises.

But the NDP stumbled in the final straight, losing key support in Quebec province over its opposition to a popular ban on the veil. That allowed the Liberals to come from behind to take the lead by wooing progressives.
The NDP has also been fighting the chipping away of support by separatist Bloc Quebecois and the Greens.
Polls showed the Liberals gained five percentage points in the past week and now have 35 to 37 per cent support, which would be enough to form a minority Government. Harper stepped up his game recently, attacking the Liberals' economic platform that includes tax rises and deficit spending on new infrastructure and social programmes.