National Post

Follow the Leaders: Day 27 on the trail
It’s the day before advance polls open for the long weekend and party leaders know they’ve got to make an impression on the ground. Again, you’ll find them concentrated in the east, with Stephen Harper making a foray into the Maritimes and Michael Ignatieff kicking around Montreal. Can they capture voter attention before heading into Easter Weekend?

NDP surge to the lead in Quebec: poll
Jack Layton’s New Democratic Party has surged past Gilles Duceppe’s faltering Bloc Quebecois and is now in first place in Quebec, according to an Ekos public opinion poll released exclusively to iPolitics. The poll, conducted earlier this week, found the New Democrats have jumped 10 percentage points since the eve of the leaders debate to 31.1% while the Bloc has dropped like a rock by 7.4 percentage points to 23.7%

Ignatieff says Liberals ‘clear’ choice for Quebecers
 Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Thursday that Quebecers are “experimenting” about how to replace the Conservative government, but he argued that his party would be the clear choice at the end of the day. “The electoral situation in Quebec is volatile, but a couple of things are clear,” said Ignatieff after a morning round table with representatives of Quebec’s artistic community in Montreal.

Harper vows not to reopen abortion debate as prime minister
Stephen Harper has vowed that a Conservative government will never endorse anti-abortion legislation while he is in power, but he refused to disclose his personal view on abortion. The Conservatives continued to distance themselves Thursday from remarks by Saskatchewan incumbent MP Brad Trost, who said the Tories have decided to “defund” the International Planned Parenthood Federation, an organization that provides abortions around the world.