As the 2025 federal election enters its second half on Day 19, federal Liberal Leader Mark Carney and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have turned their attention to seat-rich Ontario after stops in western Canada.

Carney, whose party is leading in various polls, spoke Thursday morning in Brampton in southwestern Ontario. He is scheduled to rally in Hamilton in the afternoon. Carney had campaigned in Greater Victoria Sunday and Monday, followed by stops in Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatoon. 

Poilievre, meanwhile, beat Carney to Brampton with a rally April 9 and is scheduled to speak April 10 in nearby Woolwich, itself not far from Hamilton, in the evening. Poilievre had campaigned in Sault Ste. Marie following his swing through western Canada. It included stops in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley, northeastern B.C., Metro Vancouver and Edmonton, where Carney grew up. 

The substance of Carney's and Poilievre's respective announcements in Brampton also mirrored their path to that part of southern Ontario and its fast-growing communities ringing Greater Toronto. 

Carney promised tougher measures to fight organized crime and protect Canadian borders; strengthen gun laws; and crack down on sexual violence and intimate partner violence.

Poilievre promised to get tough on crime by repealing what the party called "soft-on-crime" legislation while toughening penalties for violent crimes including murder committed against intimate partners, children or the children of partners.

The fact that both Carney and Poilievre will be treading over the same ground in southwestern Ontario, a crucial battleground for both parties, over the next day will likely inspire comparisons between their respective crowd sizes. According to a Conservative social media post, 2,500 people attended Poilievre's rally in Brampton. 

But Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., a public opinion research firm, said crowd sizes are not representative, calling it a "misguided exercise" to judge the strength of campaigns by crowd sizes. 

"If it helps campaigns galvanize the base and try to sell the idea that they have momentum on their side, I guess that's fine, but it is not something that is representative," he said. 

Federal New Democratic Leader Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, is spending Thursday campaigning in Saskatoon, before heading to Ottawa for Friday. 

Federal Co-Leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault, meanwhile, are campaigning in New Brunswick and Quebec, respectively. 

More to come...