Stephen Harper is hoping a wave of fear about the NDP will carry him to a majority government on Monday.

The prime minister was at Jewish community centre in Montreal this morning warning about the economic damage that might be caused by an NDP-led "coalition."

His dire message comes as the federal campaign enters its final weekend.

The latest polls show the NDP has made huge gains in public opinion, but the Conservatives are still within striking distance of a majority.

The biggest NDP gains could come at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois — and is prompting equally stark warnings from Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Duceppe is trying to keep the support of the hardest-core members of his separatist base. He is warning that Canada and Quebec's interests are always in opposition, and that the NDP represents the interests of outsiders on things like gun control, climate change, and economic development.

The Bloc leader is also tearing a strip off Jack Layton's party for running weak candidates, at least one of whom struggles to speak French, in rural francophone Quebec.

Layton, meanwhile, is trying to do a little poaching today, working a pair of Conservative-held ridings in British Columbia, where polls suggest NDP support is growing.

At a stage in the campaign where his predecessors would have been looking to shore up support on key NDP constituencies, Layton is on a foray into what once was enemy territory.

His schedule isn't that of a leader trying to hold on to seats; it's for someone looking to pick off new ones.

The growing orange tide shows no signs of ebbing in the final days of campaigning for Monday's election and Layton is trying to make the best of it. He will be in Kamloops in the British Columbia Interior and then in Courtenay on Vancouver Island.

In 2006, NDP prospects in such regions would have been slim to none. But given the mushrooming growth of NDP support being tracked by the polls, anything seems possible.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff begins his day in Val d'Or, Que., before heading to Ontario events in London and Kitchener.

It's not friendly ground. The Liberals held one of three London seats in the last Parliament and none of the three Kitchener ridings.

With polls suggesting the NDP have leapfrogged the Liberals in popular support, Ignatieff faces a two-front war. He has to somehow beat back the Layton surge while keeping Harper under fire.

The Liberal has taken to sniping at "Smilin' Jack,'' saying government requires more than a grin.

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