There's been a lot of talk in this election about strategic voting -- voting for someone you don't really support to block someone else you support even less.

That's not our advice to our readers in this very important election.

We urge you to vote for the leader and party you believe is best qualified to lead Canada.

On that basis, we endorse Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

Harper successfully led Canada through the worst recession since the Great Depression, emerging in better shape than almost any other developed country.

Since then, he has successfully balanced the federal budget and positioned Canada for modest surpluses for the next four years.

Over his nine years in office he has worked to ease the tax burden of Canadians, by everything from lowering the GST from 7% to 5%, to, in this election, raising the Tax Free Savings Allowance and helping families and senior citizens reduce their tax burden through income splitting.

He has helped parents by letting them keep more of their money to help with the costs of raising their children in the way they want to do it, not the way the government tells them to do it.

He is the only national party leader who understands that in order to maintain its prosperity, Canada must be able to trade with the world and get its resources, including oil and natural gas, to domestic and international markets.

On foreign policy, Harper has succeeded in the top priority for any leader in the post 9/11 world.

He has kept Canadians safe from terrorist attacks at home while taking the fight to the terrorists abroad, most recently by joining the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

He has been a staunch defender of democracy in the Mideast and has made Canada Israel's closest ally in the world.

He has been a beacon of moral clarity at the United Nations, which has drifted into moral relativism and hypocrisy, unable to respond effectively to the global threat posed by radical Islamism.

On the Syrian refugee crisis, Harper has been the only national leader telling Canadians the truth. That is that no matter how many refugees Canada accepts, the federal government must always err on the side of keeping Canadians safe and the only long-term solution to the refugee crisis is ending the Syrian civil war.

Harper has been unfairly attacked by opponents as a bigot over the government's position on the suitability of the niqab at swearing-in ceremonies for new Canadians, a position he shares with the vast majority of Canadians.

By contrast, we don't think Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair are motivated by evil intentions. We just think they're wrong.

We don't question their patriotism. We question their ability to keep public sector spending in check and to represent Canada to the world as ably as Harper has done.

That's why we urge you to vote for Harper and the Conservatives on Monday.