WATCH ABOVE: Upcoming federal byelections may predict shift in political landscape. Chief political correspondent Tom Clark reports.
TORONTO – It’s voting day in Whitby-Oshawa.
Residents will choose a successor to former Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty.
The Tories are running a high-profile candidate, former two-term Whitby mayor Pat Perkins, while the Liberals are going with entrepreneur, research consultant and political newcomer Celina Caesar-Chavannes.
Polls suggest the race is tighter than expected and both parties are pushing hard in the riding east of Toronto, with the Conservatives accusing the Liberals of running a smear campaign.
READ MORE: Byelection to fill Flaherty void turns nasty, Tories claim smear campaign
Cabinet ministers, including Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Finance Minister Joe Oliver, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Treasury Board President Tony Clement, have campaigned with Perkins.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself dropped by Whitby last month to announce the doubling of the children’s fitness tax credit.
Despite running a distant third with 14 per cent of the vote in 2011, the Liberals believe they have a chance of staging an upset.
READ MORE: Unpacking the politics: 2 critical byelections
Their own polling and several public opinion surveys suggest Liberal candidate Caesar-Chavannes has steadily closed in on Perkins.
The most recent poll, conducted Sunday by Mainstreet Technologies, had the Liberals and Tories tied while NDP support had collapsed.
Comments