THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL MONDAY

Conservative Party

The Conservative campaign was forced to shed two Toronto candidates Monday just as leader Stephen Harper began another swing through the important electoral region. First, Scarborough Rouge Park candidate Jerry Bance was dropped after it came to light that a CBC Marketplace program on home repair people had captured Bance in 2012 urinating in a homeowner’s coffee cup. Then, the campaign confirmed Toronto Danforth candidate Tim Dutaud had appeared in YouTube videos as the Unicaller. In one, he crank called a woman, and claimed to have an erection that wouldn’t go away because of Viagra, ending the call by feigning an orgasm. In another, he crank called the ETR highway toll company, posing as a mentally disabled person.

Liberal Party

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said he hopes the last six weeks of the election campaign will be enough to woo union voters, even though labour leaders would rather vote NDP. The country’s largest unions are making a push to have their members vote strategically in key ridings to oust Conservative incumbents and ensure Harper doesn’t receive another mandate. In Ontario, Unifor is urging members to help elect NDP candidates.

NDP

NDP leader Tom Mulcair told a crowd at Toronto’s Labour Day parade that it’s important for party leaders to rise above politics and talk to one another about Canada’s policy toward Syrian refugees. He underlined that the NDP wants a commissioner to deal with the issue of Syrians fleeing the chaos in their country. But at a campaign event in Mississauga, Harper rejected the overtures as “partisan games,” saying the federal government was already taking action.

Quebec

If Canadians elect a minority government on Oct. 19, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe says his party would be open to supporting a coalition with the NDP or the Liberals, but not the Conservatives.