THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL ON FRIDAY

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair

Mulcair spent time Friday shucking corn cobs with senior citizens at a residence on Montreal’s south shore and stressing his party’s pledges for seniors, who, unlike many young people, usually vote.

The party is promising to lift 200,000 seniors out of poverty by increasing the guaranteed income supplement by $400 million and returning the age of eligibility for old age security to 65 from 67.

NDP rivals have criticized the party for its spending promises and claims to balance the budget. Liberal candidate Melanie Joly released a statement Friday warning Canadians that the NDP won’t be able to fulfil its promises.

The NDP said Canadians will soon receive a full breakdown of the party’s spending promises along with details on how it would pay for them.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper

Harper pledged in mid-August that if re-elected, his government would swell the ranks of the military reserve force to 30,000 from 24,000. And he said a new unit will be established in the Yukon as part of that effort. The territory last had its own reserve force in 1968.

Harper also promised a series of new measures aimed at hunters. The Conservatives will allot $5 million per year, starting in 2017, for programs to sustain the habitats that support bird, moose and turkey populations, he said.

As well, “we will introduce family permits for Canadians who hunt migratory birds and we’re going to remove a bunch of the barriers and irritants that hunters have been telling us about,” he said.

Harper also offered $9 million over three years starting in 2016 for a tourism program to attract recreational anglers, hunters and snowmobiles from the U.S.

The Conservatives face a tough fight in the territory where incumbent Ryan Leef hopes to hang on to the seat he took from the Liberals in 2011. Leef is up against his 2011 Liberal rival Larry Bagnell.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau

Trudeau says his party was on the way down well before its devastating losses in the 2011 election, but he argued his plan will pull the Grits out of the political penalty box.

“I think the trend lines for the Liberal party go back further than 2011,” Trudeau said while speaking to reporters on Friday. The Liberals had the worst showing of their history under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff in 2011, when they were reduced to third-party status.

Trudeau said the party has been working behindthe-scenes to attract strong candidates and build party membership.

The Liberal leader has been highlighting how his party believes infrastructure spending will give a needed jolt to municipalities. He took the pitch to the Greater Toronto Area on Friday, where he touted the public transit portion of his infrastructure plan in the battleground riding of Richmond Hill.

The Liberals intend to spend $125 billion on infrastructure over the next decade and nearly $20 billion of that has been allotted to public transit.