Candidates target Ontario

Gananoque - Canada's two main parties continued canvassing yesterday in the crucial province of Ontario, where the opposition…

Gananoque - Canada's two main parties continued canvassing yesterday in the crucial province of Ontario, where the opposition Canadian Alliance is fighting to close in on the governing Liberals by Monday's election.

A Reuters/Zogby Research Canada opinion poll released yesterday showed the gap between the two had narrowed to almost its smallest of the campaign. Alliance support had edged up a point to 29 per cent, but it was still behind the Liberals, who slipped two points to 42 per cent from a Zogby poll last week.

The Liberals of Prime Minister Jean Chretien - seeking their third mandate - are in power thanks largely to their virtual clean sweep of the 103 seats in Ontario, Canada's most populous province.

The western-based Alliance of Mr Stockwell Day has no seats in Ontario.