There are four federal byelections tomorrow, but only one is expected to be a close race.
Saskatchewan's Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River riding is the one to watch. Joan Beatty, a former provincial NDP cabinet minister and a native woman, is the Liberal candidate in the largely First Nations riding. The Conservative and NDP candidates are also natives.
She's considered the highest-profile candidate, but her appointment as the Liberal candidate by Leader Stephane Dion caused some controversy among local Liberals. The Tories are also expected to run strongly again in the riding.
In 2006, the Liberals won the massive northern riding by only 67 votes. The riding covers 350,000 square kilometres, but is sparsely populated.
CTV reporter Caillin Katnich told CTV's Question Period from Prince Albert, Sask. on Sunday that it's hard to get a sense of how the election will go.
"It's really up in the air," he said.
Katnich said RCMP officer Rob Clarke, the Conservative candidate, told him he didn't think he was going to win.
NDP candidate Brian Morin, a northerner like Beatty, seems more confident in his chances, Katnich said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Prince Albert in mid-January to announce the community, hit hard by a pulp mill's closure, would get about $36 million in federal funding from a program designed to help distressed resource communities. The announcement came after campaigning had started in the byelection.
Dion has visited the riding since the election call. Layton campaigned there about a week ago.
Elsewhere in Saskatchewan, the Liberals hold one seat out of 14. The Conservatives hold everything else, and the NDP are shut out.
Urban ridings
Voters will also be going to the polls Monday in Toronto Centre, Willowdale in north Toronto, and Vancouver Quadra -- all traditionally Liberal ridings.
The elections are seen as the latest test of Dion's leadership. Big wins would boost the Liberal leader -- anything more than one loss would be seen as a failure.
Those running for the Liberals include heavyweights such as Bob Rae in Toronto Centre and Martha Hall Findlay in Willowdale. Both had run against Dion for the Liberal leadership in 2006.
Most of the Toronto candidates spent Sunday campaigning down to the wire. While chatting with Toronto Centre residents doing their weekly grocery shopping, Rae spoke about the importance of getting a better deal for cities.
"I want to work with the mayor on a decent program for Toronto and for the cities... I think that's very important for us," he told CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness.
Hall Findlay said she was hoping to win, but not taking anything for granted.
"We're confident about tomorrow," she told Â鶹´«Ã½. "We need to send a very strong message to the likes of Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper."
In the last election, the Liberals posted margins of victory of about 15,000 votes in Toronto Centre and Willowdale and 11,000 in Vancouver.
Jason Kenney, the Conservative secretary for multiculturalism, told Question Period that three of the ridings were Liberal strongholds but that the Conservatives were running strong candidates.
He wouldn't make any predictions on who he thought would win.
"At the end of the day, those voters are going to decide whether they want to be part of the government and represent them, or elect a Liberal who's going to sit on his hands and do nothing," Kenney said.
Finance minister Jim Flaherty, who spent Sunday on the campaign trail with Toronto Centre candidate Maureen Harquail, said he wouldn't be surprised if the Conservatives pull out a victory in at least one of the ridings.
"I think chances are good," he told Â鶹´«Ã½. "What I'm hearing from people across Canada is they think the government's doing a pretty good job, actually."
Three of the four Liberal candidates are women, Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc noted on Question Period. Dion has said before that he is making it a priority to have more Liberal women in the House of Commons.
"We are confident in all four ridings," he said.
In Quebec byelections last September, the Liberals lost all three -- including the former Montreal stronghold of Outrement, won by the NDP's Thomas Mulcair (two other seats were held by the Bloc Quebecois, one of which went to the Conservatives). That triggered grumbling in the Liberal party about Dion's leadership.
Greens hoping to gain support
Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May says her party hopes to expand its support in the four ridings up for grabs. With more support comes more federal campaign funding for the next election, and hopefully a spot in the federal leaders' debate.
"We're looking at these byelections as a way to really improve how the Green Party has been showing... Turning that strength that's been growing in the polls into a result on the ground," she told Â鶹´«Ã½net on Sunday.
May said she'd like to see a general election sooner rather than later, adding it's time for Canadians to be able to weigh in on how the Conservative government has been handling the nation's affairs -- particularly its support of further developing Alberta's tar sands.
"(When you look at) the voluminous production of greenhouse gasses... it is the elephant in the room," she said.
Tomorrow's byelections come as the Liberal party has backed the Conservatives in a number of confidence votes in recent days.
"We'll get some read on whether people are pleased with the Liberals ... refusing to take on the Conservatives and their agenda," NDP MP Bill Siksay told Question Period.
While his party has repeatedly dodged an election fight, Dion has hinted that the Liberals may topple the Conservatives within the month.
This would allow any new Liberal MPs to at least be seen in the House of Commons if a general election is triggered.
With files from CTV Toronto and CTV's Question Period
