Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is trying to head off the prospect of a Conservative government after Monday’s election with warnings of the consequences if Andrew Scheer becomes prime minister.

During a campaign stop in Whitby Friday, Trudeau said a government led by Scheer could be in cards once the ballots are counted.

“There is a chance that there could be a Conservative government,” Trudeau said.

“Between now and Monday, here’s what people in Ontario need to ask themselves: Are you ready for even more harmful Conservative cuts, cuts that would four times larger than Doug Ford’s?” said Trudeau.

He cited $53 billion in spending reductions pledged by the Conservatives, which would result in “massive cuts to programs and services.

“Ontario families can’t afford any more Conservatives cuts. You need a government that will invest in you and give you the support you need to succeed,” he said.

It’s a message Trudeau then took around the Greater Toronto Area Friday, from Whitby to Orillia to Barrie, and intends to do again in the region Saturday.

He delivered his most impassioned version of the message to a crowd of about 1,000 supporters in Vaughan Friday night.

Speaking off the cuff, as he had done the previous night in Montreal, Trudeau highlighted the government’s record on the economy, and cited low unemployment, and the environment, with its carbon pricing strategy and ocean protection plan.

He opened his remarks by telling the audience that Friday would have been the 100th birthday of his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau who died in 2000.

“I think about him just about every day. It is a moment to pause and reflect on the values he shared, the values he raised us with, but also the vision he had for this country … a just and generous society that looked to the future with passion and optimism,” said Trudeau, who mentioned it was his son Xavier’s 12th birthday.

“I have a pretty good reason to think about the future,” he said.

Several Liberal candidates were present at the Vaughan event, including Bill Morneau, the candidate in Toronto Centre and finance minister, who has been helping Liberal candidates in ridings around the GTA and Quebec.

“Generally, it feels better than the polls. Obviously, we have to identify Liberal voters and work to get them out to vote,” Morneau said in an interview.

With the campaign now its final stages, the majority hopes of both the Conservatives and the Liberals have been put in doubt by the surprise surges in popularity for the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois.

Trudeau declined Friday to muse on the reasons for the stronger-than-expected showings of those two parties, saying only that “you can’t take any votes for granted.

“I think, in a campaign, Canadians look at all sorts of different paths forward, look at different ways of making a choice,” he said.

As he has done all week, Trudeau tried to rally progressive voters to the Liberal side with dire warnings about the perils of the Conservative agenda.

“A vote for the Bloc Quebecois or the NDP or the Green Party would not stop Andrew Scheer, won’t stop a Conservative government,” he said.

“To stop a Conservative government, you need to elect a Liberal government,” Trudeau said to cheers from the Vaughan crowd. “That’s why we need to pull together and pick a positive progressive government.”

Trudeau spent Friday in the Greater Toronto Area, and, on Saturday, will be in Niagara, Hamilton, Brantford and Milton before he heads west.

It’s a signal how important the seats in the region are to the party’s re-election hopes.

His musing s about a possible Conservative victory are no accident; it’s a deliberate attempt by the Liberals to focus the attention of voters on what’s at stake in Monday’s vote, one party strategist said.

“It’s important for us to say ‘your vote matters,’ ” said the strategist.

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During a stop in Orillia, at a main street café, Trudeau told the packed crowd of supporters, “We need a progressive government, not a progressive opposition.”

The strategist said the concern is an election outcome that produces a “bunch of splintered progressives in opposition.”

The hectic schedule for the final days will take Trudeau to many ridings the Liberals don’t currently hold but think they have a shot at winning. “We’re on the front foot in the last days and going hard,” the strategist said.

He said they have not started to plan out post-election scenarios in the event Monday’s election produces a minority government. “Whatever Canadians in their wisdom (vote for), that’s the Parliament they are going to get,” he said.

The Liberal leader started the day in Markham where he signed a shovel to highlight the pledge that a re-elected Liberal government would support the $5.6-billion project to extend the Yonge St. subway 7.4 kilometres north from Finch Station to Highway 7.

Then it was on to Whitby, where Trudeau gave a boost Liberal candidate Ryan Turnbull.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes won the riding for the Liberals in 2015 by defeating a Conservative incumbent. She quit the Liberal caucus earlier this year after what she called a “hostile exchange” with Trudeau when she told him she didn’t intend to seek re-election. On Friday, Trudeau praised Caesar-Chavannes as an “excellent” MP. “I thank her deeply for her service and wish her the very best in the coming years,” he said.

Trudeau used a stop at a store that sells baby supplies to highlight Liberal promises to enhance the Canada child benefit by 15 per cent for children under the age of one and to make maternity benefits tax free.

In the crowd of supporters gathered outside, Whitby resident Brian Kelly said he would back the Liberals because of climate change.

While not perfect, he says the Liberal strategy to curb it is much better than the Conservatives’ plan. He said he’s not worried about the prospect of a minority government.

“I think minority governments can be very productive. Having the Greens or the NDP in league with the Liberals would move the agenda forward, particularly on climate,” said Kelly, who is retired from his job as manager of sustainability for Durham Region.

“I would like the see the Liberal program strengthened and that could happen significantly in a minority government,” he said.

Dianne and Ted LaPalm showed up at Trudeau’s Orillia whistle stop visit out of curiosity to see the Liberal leader. Climate change, too, tops their list of concerns in this election. “For the future for our families, our children, our country,” said Dianne LaPalm.

“Any person can see we’re not doing enough. Too many have their heads stuck in the sand on this issue,” said Ted LaPalm.

Local resident Nancy Noakes-Morrison was among a group of climate-change activists who moved their usual Friday rally to outside the Orillia café where Trudeau held a mid-afternoon rally with supporters.

“Things have to change …. There are so many things we do to stop it,” she said about climate change.

She will vote for the Green Party this time, but says whoever the victor is on Monday, more has to be done to combat global warming.

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