Conservatives strike urgent notes in final campaign push
Showing up at polls 'critically important,' supporters told at Harper rally
The Conservatives pushed hard on the last day of the federal election campaign, dedicating Sunday to their last effort in the key battlegrounds of Ontario and British Columbia.
During his final campaign stop in Abbotsford, B.C., Conservative Leader Stephen Harper spent most of his speech taking one last attack at the Liberals.
"They talk precious little about the contents of their platform because at its heart is out-of-control spending," Harper said, eliciting shouts of "Shame!" from the crowd of Conservative supporters.
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During an event this morning in Newmarket, Ont., Harper continued to drive home the message of the Tory plan for balanced budgets and low taxes against the Liberals' deficit spending — using the recently adopted game show technique and ka-ching sound effect to emphasize his points.
But it wasn't just cash register sounds that filled the room. With the possible loss of government status on the line, notes of urgency also rang in the air.
"We want this country to keep moving forward. We do not want to go back to the days where the government ran for a handful of Liberal special interest groups and the bureaucracy," Harper told the audience.
"And the Liberal campaign, when you cut away all the fancy rhetoric, that's all it is really about."
Conservative candidates Peter Van Loan and Lois Brown, who were on hand to introduce Harper, made several pleas with supporters to show up to the polls to vote.
"That's critically important in this election," said Van Loan. "Because we know, that elections in some ridings will be decided by not who votes, but who decides not to vote."
"We can't afford for you to stay home because staying at home is a vote for tax hikes for years to come to pay off those massive deficits," he warned.
Brown joined in the chorus, highlighting "how critical this election is for the future of our families."
"I am incredibly proud of every one of you. But I'm asking you to go that final mile, that final push on Monday to help just put us over the top."
The Conservative campaign also made a whistle stop in Regina to rally a small crowd of about a hundred people who greeted Harper on the tarmac at the airport.
Under blue skies with unseasonably warm weather, Harper urged the crowd to work a little harder to get out the vote tomorrow.
Every single vote will count, he told supporters gathered on the tarmac.
With files from Susan Lunn