Canada elections: Stephen Harper runs scared after polls show swing to Liberal rival Justin Trudeau

After weeks when the three main parties seemed tied, in the final stretch the Liberal Party has eked out a small edge

Canada's Prime Minister and Conservative leader Stephen Harper speaks at a rally in Newmarket, Ontario (Reuters)

With signs of the momentum shifting to his opponents in the last hours of the Canadian election, the Prime Minister Stephen Harper attempted to harness last-minute support over the weekend at a rally in the Toronto suburbs headlined by Rob Ford, a former city mayor who drew global scorn for cocaine abuse.

The spectacle of Mr Harper appearing at the often raucous event attended by nearly 2,000 supporters of Mr Ford, now a councillor, and of his brother Doug Ford, who remain beloved of the conservative right, was a reminder of the seemingly tight corner he finds himself in as he fights for a fourth term.

After weeks when the three main parties seemed tied, in the final stretch of an unusually long campaign that started in late August the Liberal Party has eked out a small edge, which may or may not be enough to bring victory for its young leader, Justin Trudeau, when voters go to the polls on Monday.

While a majority of Canadians tell pollsters they are ready for a change of direction after nearly a decade of Mr Harper – he was first elected Prime Minister in 2006 – the opposition nonetheless remains divided with both the Liberals and the New Democrats, led by Tom Mulcair, vying to take the reins in Ottawa.

As well as being hurt by a stagnant economy and weak Canadian dollar, Mr Harper appears also to have suffered a backlash after trying to exploit a court ruling that said his government erred in insisting that women could not wear a face covering, such as a niqab, while taking an oath of citizenship.

It is partly the fury of more progressively minded Canadians at the perceived assault by Mr Harper on minority religions that has propelled Mr Trudeau to a 37.1 per cent showing in the latest CTV/Globe and Mail poll, against 29.4 per cent for Mr Harper’s Tories and 23.7 per cent for the New Democrats.

Doug Ford, who was a Toronto councillor when his brother was mayor, echoed many Conservative candidates at the rally on Saturday by stirring fears of what Mr Trudeau, whose charismatic father, Pierre Trudeau, led Canada as a Liberal for most of the 1970s and early 1980s, might mean for the country.

“Make no mistake, God help this county, it will be an absolute disaster if Justin Trudeau and Kathleen Wynne (Liberal provincial leader in Ontario) were running this country,” Mr Ford said, drawing jeers from the crowd. In his brief speech at the event, Mr Harper amplified his message that Canada would be better off not taking the risk of electing new leaders.

“It is all about protecting jobs, protecting hard-working families, protecting local businesses,” he declared. “We all know that we were part of a very unstable global economy … a vote for [the Conservatives] is a vote to protect jobs.”

Mr Trudeau senior, who died in 2000, is still remembered by many Canadians for instilling “Trudeaumania” as a glamorous leader who helped burnish Canada’s international standing. Painted by Mr Harper as a lightweight, Justin Trudeau, 43, has shown himself an energetic and skilled campaigner.