Just five months after a federal election, political signs have once again dotted neighbourhoods across Canada as voters in six provinces and territories are poised to mark ballots.
The flurry of elections begins Monday with voting in the Northwest Territories and Prince Edward Island, followed by Manitoba on Tuesday and Ontario on Thursday. A week from Tuesday, Oct. 11, voters in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon go to the polls. And in a little more than a month, the Saskatchewan election will be held on Nov. 7.
Here is a look at how the campaigns are faring in elections to be held this week:
Liberal Ghiz seeks second term in PEI
In Prince Edward Island, party leaders stuck to their tried and true messages on the weekend as the campaign wound down before Monday's election.
Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz, who is seeking a second term, stuck to his generic message Saturday, vowing to improve access to health and education.
Conservative Leader Olive Crane said she was pleased with how the campaign unfolded. She has promised to boost drug coverage and slash taxes, including a reduction in the provincial sales tax from 10 to 8 per cent.
At dissolution, the Liberals had 24 seats in the legislature, the Conservatives had two and there was one vacancy.
The New Democrats, Greens and Island party are also fielding candidates, but only the Liberals and Conservatives are running full slates.
NWT could be at a crossroad
Political observers say Monday's Northwest Territories election will determine the future direction of a territory that is nearly broke and also faces increasingly confident aboriginal governments that threaten a deal over province-like powers.
"The (territorial government's) role is continually more and more marginalized," said Joe Handley, a former premier of the N.W.T.
"Unless a fair devolution deal is worked out," he said, "you may see (the territory) managing the health program, the education program and the existing infrastructure, but the really big policy decisions will be made either by the federal government or jointly with aboriginal governments."
The N.W.T. has almost reached a federal borrowing cap that limits the territory's capacity for running deficits, even while it tries to build infrastructure to exploit abundant mineral wealth and lower the cost of living.
For now, all the royalties from the N.W.T.'s resources go to the federal government. Ottawa has offered Yellowknife a deal that would allow the territory to keep that money, but the deal is widely opposed by aboriginal governments unhappy with the role it would leave for them.
They hold significant power because nearly the entire territory is either covered by an aboriginal self-government agreement or under negotiation for one.
Aboriginal leadership prefers to work with Ottawa rather than Yellowknife, said Bill Erasmus, grand chief of the Dene Nation.
"The Dene do not regard the (territorial government) as their government," he said.
Candidates for the territory's 19 ridings have declined in every election since 1999, when 65 people sought seats. This time, the total is down to 47. There have been three acclamations in this election, compared to one in 1999.
Close race in Manitoba
In Manitoba, the New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives are in a tight, two-way race while the Liberal campaign appears to be on the verge of disintegration. On Friday, two members of the tiny Liberal party jumped ship, calling on supporters to vote NDP.
While the NDP is aiming for a fourth straight majority government in Tuesday's election, the Liberals may be headed for extinction. Political analysts such as Paul Thomas, a professor at the University of Manitoba, have said the Liberals are in danger of being shut out for the first time in 30 years.
An opinion poll released Friday reinforced that impression. The Probe Research poll, conducted for the Winnipeg Free Press, said the Liberals had 7 per cent support, down from the 12 per cent in the 2007 election when they won just two seats.
The poll gave the NDP a 3 per cent edge over the Conservatives. But in Winnipeg, home to more than half the seats, the poll put the NDP lead at 53 per cent to 35.
The Tory and New Democrat leaders have spent much of their time in the suburban Winnipeg seats that could determine the election's outcome. Under former premier Gary Doer, the NDP won longtime Tory strongholds in south and west Winnipeg, which led the party to capture 36 of 57 legislature seats in 2007.
Minority government looms in Ontario
With only days left in the Ontario campaign, the leaders of the three main parties refuse to discuss the elephant in the room: a minority government.
On Saturday, the leaders would not speculate on what might happen if no party gains a majority in Thursday's election even though polls show the race is too close to call.
A Nanos poll conducted for the Globe and Mail, CTV and CP24 released Saturday showed the Liberals at 38 per cent to the Progressive Conservative's 35 per cent. The NDP remained near 24 per cent.
That could spell a dead heat since the results within the 900-person, three-day rolling sample has a margin of error of 3.5 per cent.
An Environics poll for The Canadian Press put Conservative support at 36 per cent, Liberal at 35 and the NDP at 25.
NDP leader Andrea Horwath would likely be the difference maker in any coalition.
"In the next day or so, we're going to be specific about what priorities we will have if we are to form a government," she said Saturday.
McGuinty also deflected questions about a minority government and dismissed polls that show him tied with Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak. "It's not the numbers that count, it's our plan," he said.
Hudak flatly refused to talk about minority scenarios involving his party but warned about the dangers of a Liberal-NDP coalition.
"They'll increase taxes and they'll spend money on everything under the sun," he said on Sunday.
But McGuinty responded with an open letter to Hudak in which he said he was running to form a Liberal government "and only a Liberal government.
"There will be no coalition with either your party or the NDP," he added.
With files from The Canadian Press
