Just one of many election battlegrounds, Montreal gets love from three leaders

OTTAWA — Montreal is getting attention from the leaders of all the top three federal parties today.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is campaigning hard in Quebec, making numerous stops to try to personally shore up his party’s standing in his home province.

He begins with a morning appearance with numerous Liberals at Montreal’s botanical garden and then makes his way east to Sherbrooke, pausing in a Legion hall, cafes and pubs with local candidates along the way.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is just wrapping up a spring through Quebec of his own, starting out in one of Montreal’s northern suburbs with Tory candidate and former Olympian Sylvie Frechette before taking off for southwestern Ontario.

And the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh is making a pilgrimage to Hudson, Que., where his venerated predecessor Jack Layton was raised, before heading for a walkabout in Montreal’s working-class Hochelaga neighbourhood and a rally just blocks from the botanical garden.

Green Leader Elizabeth May is promising an announcement in Victoria, near her home riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands in B.C., and People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier is focused on preserving his own seat in Beauce.

With polls suggesting the vote on Oct. 21 could be extremely tight and some seats likely to be decided in three-, four- or even five-way vote splits, all the parties are trying to figure out how to deploy their leaders for maximum benefit.

The Canadian Press