Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the annual South West Stampede BBQ in Calgary on July 4 , 2015.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will hold a late-afternoon rally on Sunday in the riding of Mount Royal, showcasing his party's intent on capturing the strategic seat in the next election.
The Conservatives have made gains in the Montreal Island riding in recent elections, where the party's pro-Israel policies have attracted the support of many Jewish voters.
Under Mr. Harper, the Conservatives have never won a seat in the Montreal area, but it hasn't been for a lack of effort in Mount Royal. By going there for a 5 p.m. rally on Sunday – on what could officially be the first day of the federal election campaign – Mr. Harper will signal his renewed efforts to win the traditionally Liberal seat.
The event has not yet been publicized, but registration is open on the Conservative Party's website.
The Conservative candidate in the riding is Robert Libman, a well-known defender of Anglophone rights in Montreal.
For the first time since 1999, the Liberal candidate in the riding will not be Irwin Cotler, a human-rights lawyer with an international following, who is retiring from active politics. Instead, the Liberals have chosen Côte St-Luc mayor Anthony Housefather as their candidate.
The Conservatives have steadily increased their share of the vote in the riding in recent years. Whereas Mr. Cotler took 76 per cent of the vote in the 2004 general election, his share fell to 41 per cent in 2011, when he won by only 2,260 votes.
While the Conservatives have worked hard to win in Mount Royal, they suffered a setback when their previous candidate in the riding, Saulie Zajdel, was charged with fraud as part of a corruption probe in 2013.