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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair speaks to reporters during a press conference following the first federal leaders debate of the 2015 Canadian election campaign in Toronto. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalGreen Party Leader Elizabeth May speaks to reporters during a press conference following the first federal leaders debate on August 6, 2015. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalConservative Leader Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen are greeted as they arrive for the first federal leaders debate of the 2015 Canadian election campaign in Toronto on August 6, 2015. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image Modal (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair arrives to meet reporters for a press conference in Toronto on August 6, 2015. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair waves to supporters as he arrives for the first federal leaders debate. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalGreen Party Leader Elizabeth May greets dignitaries as she arrives for the first federal leaders debate. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau greets supporters as he arrives for the first federal leaders debate. (credit:GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau warms up in the ring with Paul Brown during a photo op at Paul Brown Boxfit in Toronto on August 6, 2015 prior to the first election debate. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim)
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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Thomas Mulcair Mulcair speaks at a press conference in Toronto on August 6, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Party leader Justin Trudeau leaves a rally as he begins campaigns for the upcoming federal election in Mississauga, Ont., on Tuesday, August 4, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu)
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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair delivers a speech during a campaign stop in Montreal on Tuesday, August 4, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
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Open Image ModalConservative leader Stephen Harper picks up chicken wings while grocery shopping with his son Ben Tuesday, August 4, 2015 in Toronto. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)
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Open Image ModalAn anti-Stephen Harper protester blocks the party's campaign bus during a Conservative party federal election rally on Westbury Avenue in Montreal on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
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Open Image ModalAnti-Stephen Harper protesters block the party's campaign bus during a Conservative party federal election event on Westbury Avenue in Montreal on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
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Open Image ModalAnti-Stephen Harper protesters block the party's campaign bus during a Conservative party federal election event on Westbury Avenue in Montreal on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
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Open Image ModalAn anti-Stephen Harper protester is detained by police prior to a Conservative party campaign event on Westbury Avenue in Montreal on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
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Open Image ModalNDP Leader Tom Mulcair launches his campaign at the Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., after Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau speaks during his election campaign launch in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday August 2, 2015. A federal election will be held on October 19. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
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Open Image ModalPrime Minister Stephen Harper visits Governor General David Johnston, along with his wife Laureen, to dissolve parliament and trigger an election campaign at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Sunday, August 2, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
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Open Image ModalConservative Leader Stephen Harper gets instructions on how to operate a machine that puts the finishing touch to a radiator while touring a industrial parts manufacture Monday, August 3, 2015 in Laval, Que. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)
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Open Image ModalLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau, right, greets supporters during a campaign stop in Calgary, Alta., Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. (credit:THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)
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Open Image ModalStephen Harper(35 of73)
Open Image ModalAccording to several biographies of the current Conservative prime minister, when he was in high school in the 1970s, he ran in Liberal circles.The prime minister of the time was Pierre Trudeau, and Harper was recruited by one of his classmates to join his high school Liberal club.But soon after graduation, Harper moved west and as the story goes, lost respect for the elder Trudeau over the implementation of the national energy program, beginning his long road to leader of the Conservative party. (credit:CP)
Bob Rae(36 of73)
Open Image ModalTrudeau also prompted Rae to get involved in politics, where he got his first taste of the life volunteering for the Liberals.After returning from studying in England, he joined the New Democrats, eventually being elected as an NDP MP before leaving Ottawa to lead the provincial NDP and becoming premier of Ontario.In 1998, he resigned from the NDP but didn't sever political ties with them until 2002.That year, he argued in an essay published by the National Post that he no longer supported the party's approach to the Middle East and its opposition to the World Trade Organization."This is not a vision of social democracy worthy of support,'' he wrote at the time.In 2006, he declared his allegiance to the Liberals, running for its leadership but losing.He became a Liberal MP in 2008 and the party's interim leader following the 2011 election. (credit:CP)
Lawrence Cannon(37 of73)
Open Image ModalMulcair named former Conservative cabinet minister Lawrence Cannon as the one who approached him to join the Conservatives.The duo knew each other from their days with the Quebec Liberals; Cannon represented that party in the Quebec National Assembly for nearly 10 years before Mulcair joined their ranks.And Cannon backed Sheila Copps when she ran for leadership of the federal Liberals in 2000.But he then left the party for the private sector, reportedly disillusioned over Jean Chretien's handling of the 1995 Quebec referendum and the subsequent sponsorship scandal.He went back into municipal politics for a time and then joined the Conservatives."The decision of Lawrence Cannon to join the Conservative party will help us build a new, clean federalism in the province,'' Harper told a 2005 press conference announcing Cannon's candidacy.He was elected in 2006, serving in two cabinet posts before losing his seat in the 2011 election and being appointed ambassador to France. (credit:CP)
David Emerson(38 of73)
Open Image ModalThe chance to represent Canada abroad also appeared to lure David Emerson across the aisle.The long-time businessman was wooed by the Liberals to join their party for the 2004 election and he was elected in a Vancouver riding that year, going on to become industry minister.In the 2006 election he ran for the Liberals again, repeatedly attacking the Tories, and won his seat. That campaign saw the Harper Conservatives eke out a minority government victory.When Harper and his team showed up at Rideau Hall to be sworn in, Emerson was with them and was named international trade minister.The Toronto Star had reported that while in the Liberal cabinet, Emerson had objected to a softwood lumber deal the government was close to disclosing. Emerson told reporters he made the partisan switch to serve his constituents better."I am pursuing the very agenda that I got involved to pursue when I was in the Liberal party supporting Paul Martin. I'm continuing to pursue it,'' he said in 2006.He did not stand for re-election in 2008. (credit:CP)
Scott Brison(39 of73)
Open Image ModalThe Nova Scotia MP was first elected in 1997 as a Progressive Conservative and in 2003 ran for the leadership of that party, losing to Peter MacKay.Though later that year he voted in favour of the PC's merging with the Canadian Alliance to form the new Conservative party, only days after the merger he announced he was going to sit as a Liberal.In later interviews, he said he was told by those in the Canadian Alliance, including Stephen Harper, that the fact he was gay wouldn't hold back his political career within the new party.But he said he was also told the Conservatives would continue to champion issues that were important with its socially conservative base."I could not run for a party that I did not want to win the election,'' Brison said in a 2006 interview. (credit:CP)
Eve Adams(40 of73)
Open Image ModalThe Toronto-area Tory sent a shock through political circles when she showed up alongside Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau at a news conference earlier this year and announced she was joining his team.Adams had long ties to the Conservatives dating back to the Mulroney days, and had been elected for the party as an MP in 2011, winning a coveted suburban riding away from the Liberals.Eventually, she became romantically linked with Dimitri Soudas, Harper's former director of communications who went on to become executive director of the party.He lost that position after being accused of meddling in her nomination campaign for the 2015 election, which eventually led to both of them being excommunicated from the party.When Adams announced her decision to join the Liberals, she said it was because she no longer supported the Conservatives' policy approach, specifically their income splitting policy."I cannot support mean-spirited measures that benefit only the richest few,'' she said.She has yet to be formally nominated as a Liberal candidate for the upcoming election. (credit:CP)
Rob Anders, Calgary West(41 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Jason Kenney, Calgary Southeast(42 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Deepak Obhrai, Calgary East(43 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Diane Ablonczy, Calgary-Nose Hill(44 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Dick Harris, Prince George-Bulkley Valley(45 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1993 (credit:CP)
Garry Breitkreuz, Yorkton-Melville(46 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1993 (credit:CP)
Gerry Ritz, Battlefords-Lloydminster(47 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Peter Goldring, Edmonton East(48 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
John Duncan, Vancouver Island North(49 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1993 (credit:CP)
Leon Benoit, Vegreville-Wainwright(50 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1993 (credit:CP)
Maurice Vellacott, Saskatoon-Wanuskewin(51 of73)
Open Image ModalFirst elected: 1997 (credit:CP)
Rob Ford(52 of73)
Open Image ModalJustin Trudeau(53 of73)
Open Image ModalThe federal Liberal leader opened up to HuffPost about his experience with marijuana in August."Sometimes, I guess, I have gotten a buzz, but other times no. I’m not really crazy about it.” (credit:CP)
Tom Mulcair(54 of73)
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