OTTAWA—Political rallies, speeches and promises — as sure as suntan lotion and backyard BBQs, these are the signs of the summer to come in Canada.

The House of Commons is counting down the final days before its summer recess but the federal leaders are already looking ahead to the unofficial election campaign of the weeks ahead, a chance to impress voters before the ballot race truly kicks off in September.

On Thursday both Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in the Greater Toronto Area, the kind of profile-boosting travel that voters can expect to see a lot of this summer.

Trudeau will be in Vaughan meeting with seniors; Harper will be at a TTC yard on Bathurst St. with Finance Minister Joe Oliver for what is billed as a “major infrastructure announcement.”

On Wednesday, the three leaders faced off for what was likely the last time until before the election debates get underway, starting in August, as they used the Commons for one last tout of their record and a few pointed jabs at their rivals.

Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair went at it in a prolonged round of question and answer, tossing barbs and rhetoric, each seeming to enjoy the one-on-one debate.

The NDP leader attacked the Conservatives on everything from election fraud to unemployment, the Senate scandal and the decision to pushback the eligibility age for old age security.

“The Prime Minister forgot to mention that in the last election campaign. Would he please tell Canadians today what he is hiding up his sleeve for the next time around,” Mulcair asked.

But Harper defended his government’s Conservative economic record and noted Mulcair’s own misstep in a radio interview where he couldn’t recall the corporate tax rate in Canada.

“That is typical of the NDP. It does not know what the taxes are, it just knows everybody’s taxes have to be higher,” Harper said, to the applause and laughter of his backbench.

The summer recess marks not just the end of the current session, but signals that mere weeks are left in the life of the current Conservative government before Parliament formally ends for the election that will begin early in September, at the latest.

With polls showing a tight, shifting race between the New Democrats, Conservatives and Liberals, the results of the Oct. 19 vote defy early predictions.

But this week, both the New Democrats and Liberals rolled out policy to boost their credentials as a government in waiting.

At an end-of-session news conference earlier on Wednesday, Mulcair touted his party’s opposition to Bill C-51, the security legislation. He also noted party initiatives such as removing the federal sales tax on feminine hygiene products.

“Whether it’s in terms of standing up to the government and that part of our role of official Opposition or showing that indeed we’re a government in waiting, I think we’ve met the test on both counts,” said Mulcair, who joined supporters for a “rally for change” in Ottawa Wednesday night.

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Trudeau was calling for his own vision of change this week, pronouncing that Ottawa was “broken” after almost 10 years of Conservative rule.

“It’s time once again to restore Canadians’ faith in our Parliament, in our government, in our institutions,” Trudeau said Wednesday, one day after unveiling an extensive package of democratic reforms.

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