Liberals, Conservatives ask Canadians to vote strategically as campaign wraps up

OTTAWA (CityNews) ─ After a month of campaigning, Canada’s federal election looks poised to be a fight to the finish as the campaign is in its final weekend.

Many polls still show a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives, with the NDP in a distant third.

Experts say this race will come down to the wire.

“I just think it’s a mug’s game to try and predict this one,” said Lydia Miljan, political scientist at the University of Windsor.

While the numbers point to a likely minority government, a majority may also be in the cards.

“There are so many too-close-to-call ridings,” said Miljan. “And if a lot of those go in one direction rather than the other, that could shift to very close to majority territory.

“There are a lot of seats in play in the Toronto area, in Ontario, there are a lot of seats in British Columbia, and even Quebec is a wild card.”

For party leaders in this tight race, the final days of campaigning will be crucial. The frontrunners are pushing a message of strategic voting.

“Where the Liberals will say, ‘don’t vote for the NDP because that will secure a Conservative victory,’ and the Conservatives will say, ‘don’t vote for the PPC because that will secure a Liberal victory,’” said Miljan.

Another major factor will be voter turnout. Despite record advance and mail-in ballots, there is a good chance the pandemic keeps people home and voter turnout low.

Voters can expect a big push to get supporters to the ballot box with a bombardment of TV and radio ads, flyers, phone calls, text messages and emails. In some cases, parties may even offer to drive voters to their polling station.