In case you forgot...

It has been one of the longest and most interesting federal election campaigns in Canadian history, at both the federal and local levels.

It has also been one of the closest.

While polls indicate Justin Trudeau's Liberals may win the vote Monday, October 19, anything can happen both federally and here in our riding of Sault Ste. Marie, due to the possibilities of last minute gaffes from federal leaders, last minute changes of mind among voters, as well as vote splitting.

Sault Ste. Marie has been spotted by political observers as a swing riding, a close race to watch.

Sault candidates include Conservative incumbent MP Bryan Hayes, the NDP's Skip Morrison, Liberal Terry Sheehan, the Green Party's Kara Flannigan and Marxist-Leninist candidate Mike Taffarel.

There are many issues of importance to Sault voters, jobs and the economy being at the top of the list, as the election takes place against a gloomy backdrop of layoffs at Tenaris Algoma Tubes and Essar Steel Algoma.

Conservative candidate Bryan Hayes has campaigned on the Stephen Harper government's emphasis on a balanced budget and personal and business tax cuts as vital to the economic well-being of Canadians in the years ahead, ripping into the Liberal Party and the NDP as reckless 'tax and spend' parties that would spell disaster for the economy.

Hayes has pointed to the announcement, in July of this year, of a $30 million federal loan to Essar Steel Algoma to help the steel mill modernize its facilities as a huge sign of Conservative support for the Sault's steel industry.

Hayes has also touted the Conservative scrapping of the former Liberal government's long-gun registry, so unpopular in many ridings such as Sault Ste. Marie, as a promise well-kept.

He has also reminded voters of federal financial aid to save the Sault to Hearst passenger rail service, though stakeholders are still searching for a third party operator to run that service, and funding announced this summer for maintenance to facilities such as the 

Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site and the Sault Armoury.

Other Conservative achievements Hayes is campaigning on is the family tax cut that allows couples with children under 18 to split up to $50,000 of income, an increased annual contribution limit for tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) to $10,000 from $5,500, an increased Universal Child Care Benefit to $160 a month for children under age six (up from $100), an added new monthly benefit of $60 for children age six to 17, and a promise to reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from the current 11 per cent by 2019.

NDP candidate Skip Morrison has criticized the Conservative government as fear-mongering and divisive, stating an NDP government will scrap the Bill C-51 national security legislation and pay greater attention to First Nations issues.

Morrison has said an NDP government will balance the budget in 2016, not raise personal income tax rates, cancel the Conservative government’s income-splitting policy for families (stating it only helps the wealthiest 15 percent of Canadian families), reverse changes to tax-free savings accounts (stating it doesn't do much for middle-class Canadians), increase corporate taxes, cut small business taxes to nine percent from the current 11 percent right off the bat, create one million child care spaces across Canada and a $15 a day national child care program, reverse the Conservative decision to increase the Old Age Security eligibility age from 67 to 65, increase Canada Pension Plan contributions and benefits for Canadians, reverse a planned Conservative reduction in the rate of increase in provincial healthcare transfers (due to begin in 2017), and invest in creating jobs for Canadians, especially youth. 

Liberal candidate Terry Sheehan has said voters have lost confidence and hope as a result of recent Stats Canada figures which show local unemployment at more than 12 percent, up from five percent in the summer of 2014.

Sheehan has also blamed the Conservatives for the problems facing the Sault to Hearst passenger rail service and has criticized a series of local funding announcements from Hayes just prior to the August election call as last-minute and politically-motivated.

Sheehan has fully thrown his support behind the Liberal campaign platform, which includes an announcement made by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau during his August visit to the Sault, promising an extra $200 million annually to help companies innovate with clean technology in the forestry, fishing, mining, energy and agricultural sectors.

The Liberal campaign platform includes borrowing approximately $26 billion over three years to kickstart the economy, pouring money into jobs that would lead to construction or renewal of roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.

The Liberals have also said they would cut the middle-class income-tax bracket to 20.5 percent from the current 22 per cent and create a new tax bracket of 33 per cent for annual incomes of more than $200,000, cancel income splitting for families (believing it only benefits the wealthiest Canadians), bring in a new tax-free Canada Child Benefit for all families with income below $150,000, cancel the Conservative TFSA increase, cut income taxes for small businesses, balance the budget by 2020, reverse the Conservative plan to increase Old Age Security eligibility age to 67 and increase Canada Pension Plan contributions and benefits.

Green Party candidate Kara Flannigan has said she believes in creating economic opportunities that build on the greening of technology and reducing the carbon footprint.

The Green Party would, for example, give tax breaks to businesses which use renewable technology in their day-to-day operations, encouraging them to use those tax breaks to hire more employees.

The Greens would eliminate personal taxes on incomes below $20,000, cut the small business tax rate to nine per cent by 2019, raise corporate taxes from 15 percent to 19 percent, work with the provinces on a new healthcare accord (like the NDP and Liberals), create a national housing strategy and a  national seniors strategy pertaining to a guaranteed liveable income and a dementia strategy.

Marxist-Leninist candidate Mike Taffarel, who has flown that party's banner in the Sault riding in every federal election campaign since 1979, calls for state-funded, cradle-to-grave programs for Canadians.

Canadians, Taffarel has said, should be guaranteed the right to work, education and pensions. 

The federal election is Monday, October 19.

(PHOTO: NDP candidate Skip Morrison, Green Party candidate Kara Flannigan, Liberal candidate Terry Sheehan and Conservative candidate Bryan Hayes are shown at an all-candidates panel held September 15, 2015. Donna Hopper/SooToday)