THUNDER BAY, ONT.—Kenora’s Conservative incumbent Greg Rickford stole his northern Ontario seat from the Liberals in the last election by 2,051 votes.

Since that narrow victory, the electoral district that is home to some 42,000 registered voters has been showered with nearly $40 million in federal infrastructure funding, according to figures compiled by the Liberal party and provided to the Toronto Star.

It’s about $12.5 million more than was received by the closest opposition-held riding in the region and second only to Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka. Some $50 million was earmarked for the riding to pay for G8 legacy projects, including 33 projects advanced by Clement himself.

Be it coincidence or political calculation, Rickford’s Kenora riding also sits squarely on the Conservative’s list of 30 ridings that are at risk of being lost or possible to steal away. The list of so-called targeted ridings is central to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s national campaign, which started the election holding 143 seats, a dozen short of a majority government.

That list is filled with races in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario, but dominated by Toronto-area ridings including the Conservative-held seats of Thornhill (Peter Kent), Julian Fantino (Vaughan) and Mississauga-Erindale (Bob Dechert).

In Ontario, the seats they hope to win are mostly held by Liberals. There’s Brampton-Springdale (Liberal Ruby Dhalla), Eglinton-Lawrence (Liberal Joe Volpe), Ajax-Pickering (Liberal Mark Holland) and Mississauga South (Liberal Paul Szabo).

So focused are the Conservatives on this frequently updated list of 30 races across the country that, according to Tory Senator Marjory Lebreton, these are the only ridings in which the party is conducting opinion polling to gauge voter intentions. National polls such as those published in the media are handy for the public, she said, but the real races are being fought street by street, largely in the suburban enclaves of the country.

If you haven’t seen a high-profile Conservative visiting your local Tory candidate, your riding is simply not in the mix.

The Barrie-area riding of Simcoe-Grey is high on the Conservative party’s list. Former Conservative MP Helena Geurgis is running there as an independent against Kellie Leitch, who took the party’s candidacy when Guergis was ousted from caucus over unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, extortion, drug use and involvement with prostitution.

Nova Scotia’s Defence Minister Peter MacKay was among the first to show up in support of Leitch, a long-time Tory organizer, once the election was called last month. He was followed by Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, former Ontario Premier Bill Davis and Minister of State for Seniors Julian Fantino.

A local newspaper dubbed the stream of Conservatives coming into Guergis’ riding “the tour of top Tories.” But the same thing is occurring across the country, whether it be Immigration Minister Jason Kenney securing ethnic votes in the GTA or retiring Treasury Board President Stockwell Day jetting across the country to boost a local candidate’s profile.

“I think Stock’s actually doing more campaigning than he’s ever done before,” Harper remarked Saturday at a rally in Burnaby, B.C.

The message Conservatives are sending in these swing ridings is that the world is filled with uncertainty and the best way to cope with that is to cast a vote for someone who will be in government and be able to deliver for the riding.

Montreal Tory Senator Larry Smith unravelled that message two weeks ago in one of the few verbal gaffes of the campaign so far.

“It’s normal that you are going to focus on the areas with the people that do support you. That’s part of political life,” the former CFL chairman said, noting that government-funded infrastructure and other projects have been concentrated in Conservative-held ridings in recent years.

Harper disavowed Smith’s remarks earlier in the campaign, but the style of his daily announcements and rallies suggest that his party’s attention is aimed at giving maximum profile to the 30 target ridings.

Each visit follows a carefully calculated script designed to highlight the vulnerable or hopeful Tory before ceding the spotlight to the Prime Minister.

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In Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, it is incumbent Kelly Block who introduces Harper; in Guelph it is hopeful candidate Marty Burke. In Etobicoke North, Priti Lamba warms up the crowd, and in Burnaby-Douglas a seat vacated by the NDP’s Bill Siksay, it is Ronald Leung, draped in a Vancouver Canucks hockey sweater.

Then Harper takes to the stage, reading nearly the same speech each night from a teleprompter. There is only one message and it is the country’s need to reject an unstable coalition of opposition parties led by the Liberals in favour of a “strong, stable, national, majority Conservative government.”

The Tories have invested much time, buckets of money, and considerable thought into ensuring the voter response works out in their favour.

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