Canada appears poised to return Chretien to power

Chretien, top, and Day attend campaign rallies on Saturday

SHAWINIGAN, Canada (Reuters) -- Canadians head to the polls on Monday for the third time in seven years, resigned to the probable reelection of Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien even though he is not their first choice to lead.

Still, with the number of undecided voters still at an extraordinarily high 20 to 25 percent in some surveys, the outcome was not locked up. And if he did win, the big question was whether he would be lose his majority in Parliament.

Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day told a Saturday night rally of 500 supporters in the British Columbian capital of Victoria that victory was still within his conservative party's reach.

"We can do this, we will do this. ... Because we are so close now, 48 hours until the polls close, we are asking for this great united effort across the country," said Day, an evangelical Christian who does not campaign on Sundays.

Chretien flashed the victory sign on Saturday night after his final flight of the five-week campaign as a flag-waving crowd of 500 greeted him at the airport near his hometown of Shawinigan shouting "On va gagner" ("We will win").

He had flown 25,800 miles (41,300 km), enough to go around the world, as he crisscrossed the world's second largest nation to promote his vision of a strong activist government. On Sunday, his only campaign event was attending a local lunch.

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Though Chretien won a slim majority in 1997 -- 155 out of 301 seats in the House of Commons -- he was able to push through any legislation he chose. He said on Saturday he needed to retain a majority to keep from strengthening the hand of separatists in Quebec.

But opposition parties have appealed to voters to force the Liberals into a minority in order to curb what they say is Liberal arrogance. For the Alliance, based in western Canada, the challenge has been to crack vote-rich Ontario, which handed the Liberals the election in 1993 and 1997.

Ontario has 103 seats, all but two of them in Liberal hands, and polls show the Liberals with a solid lead in Ontario among undecided voters.

Day led a crowd of more than 2,000 supporters in Abbotsford, British Columbia -- the biggest rally of any party in the campaign -- in chanting: "Come on, Ontario."

The Alliance now holds 58 seats nationally, and one member of Day's team privately held out the hope for 90 seats this time around -- more than most pundits are predicting.

That would not be enough to form a government but would be enough to deprive the Liberals of their majority, assuming the separatist Bloc Quebecois takes 50 of the 75 seats in French-speaking Quebec and the minority Conservatives and leftist New Democrats are not wiped out.

Chretien, a crusty 66-year-old politician who has come under fire for bringing government largesse to his home district, has the backing of only two in five decided voters.

Even among them, many would prefer his more conservative finance minister, Paul Martin, a man who wants to replace Chretien but who is has fought loyally at the prime minister's side during this campaign.

A Reuters/Zogby Research Canada poll released on Saturday put Liberal support at just under 42 percent and support for the Alliance at 27 percent. Three other surveys put the Liberals' lead at 39 percent to 26 or 27 percent, while two others showed a wider gap, 43 percent to 25 percent.

Day concedes that relentless negative attacks have dented his popularity. Chretien's camp has impugned his religious tenets and mocked his belief in creationism.

The prime minister has accused Day of harboring a hidden agenda to destroy public health care, reintroduce restrictions on abortion and limit immigration -- charges he denies.

After open musings by Alliance officials on increased private involvement in the underfunded public health system, Day had to expend a great deal of time and energy saying he opposed a two-tier system.

"The Canadian Alliance leader spent most of the 35-day race denying, disowning or watering down his party's policies," the Toronto Star commented in its "reluctant endorsement" of Chretien.

However, Chretien's ratings went down as opponents stressed it was his budget cuts that had led to long waiting lines in the health system, and as he admitted to having pressed a federal bank to lend money to an associate in his district.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Chretien has narrow edge in Canadian race
November 25, 2000
Canada's Chretien tries to woo cool Quebec
November 24, 2000

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