Harper attacks ‘Liberal special interests’ as campaign nears end

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Stephen Harper sharpened his attack on Justin Trudeau in the waning hours of the 2015 election campaign, trying to frame the Liberal front-runner as an elitist who would put special interests and the needs of federal bureaucracy ahead of ordinary Canadians.

He launched his final appeal for votes in the campaign with yet another rally in the Greater Toronto Area on Sunday morning, where he warned a Liberal government would mark a return to fat cat Ottawa.

Election Day, October 19, will decide whether the Conservative Leader's tenure as prime minister comes to an end and with polls suggesting Mr. Trudeau has a seven-point lead, Mr. Harper's entire campaign message is now an effort to sow doubts about his rival.

The Conservative Leader, who has been trying to shift the ballot question from time-for-change to which party would leave more cash in voter's wallets, told a Newmarket, Ont., crowd of 200 that the Liberals represent a step backward for Canada.

"When you cut away all the fancy rhetoric, that's all it is really about: turning back the clock to the days where everybody worked for a handful of special interests," Mr. Harper said.

"We do not want to go back to the days where government ran for a handful of Liberal special interest groups and for the bureaucracy. We want to serve the hardworking families of this country."

It's a bit of a stretch for the Conservative Leader, who has controlled the levers of power in Ottawa for nearly a decade, to run as an anti-establishment candidate.

But this anti-elitist appeal likely resonates most strongly with the Conservative Party's base, which Mr. Harper will need to work flat-out on Election Day to get Tory supporters to the polls.

The campaign stop in Newmarket was the beginning of a cross-country sprint for the Conservative Leader Sunday that will include rallies in Regina and British Columbia's Lower Mainland. He'll wrap up the day in his hometown of Calgary where he will await results Monday.

Peter Krol is a die-hard Conservative supporter who believes his local candidate, Newmarket-Aurora's Lois Brown, will win-re-election.

But he acknowledges he's a bit unsettled about the bigger campaign.

"I'm a little concerned because Trudeau's made some inroads ... I never liked his father as prime minister."

Mr. Krol wants to stick with Mr. Harper but concedes Mr. Trudeau has improved on the political stage. "He's matured a lot in the last six months," the Conservative supporter said, referring to verbal gaffes the Liberal leader used to make, such as "the budget will balance itself."

As part of his all-out attack in Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Harper uses each campaign stop to reprise a game show-like stunt, complete with the ringing of a cash-register bell, designed to raise doubts about Liberal campaign promises.

He repeated this act in Newmarket, where a Tory supporter counted out a pile of cash that the Conservative Leader says represents the tax hikes under a Liberal government. He doesn't mention Mr. Trudeau's promise of a middle class tax break.

Mr. Harper also visited a GTA car dealer on Sunday owned by car sales mogul Nav Bhatia, also known the "Raptors Superfan" for his support of the team.

Mr. Bhatia said his business has flourished under the Harper government and he wants that to continue.

He said the other issues in this campaign, like the niqab or revocation of citizenship, aren't things he has paid attention to.

"'I feel very secure and safe in this country with the policies that have been there," he said. As for whether that security might be threatened Monday, given what polls are suggesting, Bhatia cracked a joke. "The dogs know the pole best. You know what dogs do to the pole."

Mr. Harper, who has spent much of this election campaigning in vote-rich Ontario, which will send 121 MPs to Ottawa on October 19, is heading westward for the remaining hours of this campaign.

Polls suggest the Conservatives are still lagging the front-runner Liberals. The latest Nanos Research poll gives the Liberals a seven-point leader over Mr. Harper's Tories.