Article content continued

— The NDP was well back, with 21 per cent.

— The Green party had five per cent, while the Bloc Québécois, running only in Quebec, had four per cent.

Mainstreet president Quito Maggi said in an interview Friday that if the polling numbers carry through to election day, the Liberals could be on the “razor’s edge” of winning a majority.

Canadians will go to the polls after a 78-day campaign that, for the most part, featured a tight three-way race.

Maggi said that throughout the campaign, 70 per cent of voters indicated they wanted a change of government in Ottawa after a decade of Conservative rule.

Moreover, about 50 per cent of NDP supporters said they could change their mind before election day.

Maggi said the NDP’s recent drop in support among Quebecers amid the niqab debate triggered a “mass migration of votes” nationally as many New Democratic supporters concluded the Liberals had the better chance of defeating the Conservatives.

“It’s like a snowball that’s rolling downhill. It has momentum. Nothing’s going to stop it.”

He said the NDP made a critical mistake by adopting a strategy of moving to the political centre by promising a balanced budget. “People were looking for change. And selling same as change just doesn’t work. You have to be different.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

By comparison, Maggi said Trudeau gained the attention of voters at critical points in the race by sticking to his stance that he would run three years of deficits to fund infrastructure investments, and by categorically rejecting the F-35 military jet.