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Calgary Centre is the site of the most closely-watched campaign in the city as the federal election plays out its final weeks before the Oct. 19 vote.

While Calgary has been dominated by conservative parties for decades — the federal Tories hold every seat in the city — the inner-city riding has had its share of exciting races in the recent past.

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In 2000, Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark won the seat to prevent a Canadian Alliance sweep of Calgary.

Three years ago, Conservative Joan Crockatt narrowly won the seat in a byelection, taking 37 per cent of the vote to Liberal Harvey Locke’s 33 per cent, and the 26 per cent taken by the Green party’s Chris Turner.

Now, Crockatt is hoping to hold the seat for the Tories against Liberal Kent Hehr, a popular former MLA who has been campaigning since last year, and NDP candidate Jillian Ratti, a family doctor buoyed by her party’s surge to power provincially this spring.

Hehr said the belief Calgary is ready to overcome its traditional opposition to the Liberals — the party hasn’t elected a Calgary MP in more than four decades, thanks to past Liberal initiatives such as the National Energy Program — helped draw him into the federal race.

“I didn’t think Stephen Harper had governed well and the second thing was I believed we needed at least one progressive member of Parliament from Calgary,” he said.