As poll results in the run-up to voting day made it more apparent that the Conservatives would be trounced, Ms Campbell began to float the idea of teaming up with the Reform Party to form the next official opposition and keep the separatist Bloc Quebecois from obtaining official second-place status.

In the home stretch of the 47-day campaign, the Liberals gained up to seven percentage points in public opinion polls, while the Tories headed for a massive defeat, perhaps even an embarrassing third place finish behind the Reform or Bloc Quebecois parties.

The pro-labour New Democratic Party, meanwhile, seemed set for annihilation.

Even in Ms Campbell's home province of British Columbia, the Tories have performed miserably in the polls, ending up a full 17 percentage points behind the Liberals. Analysts have predicted Ms Campbell, the country's first female prime minister, could even lose her own seat of Vancouver Centre.

And with the Liberals carrying a mere 30 per cent of votes in Quebec, Mr Chretien faces the prospect of losing his own seat in the mostly French-speaking province. The former cabinet minister admitted as much over the weekend.

Polls released by Gallup and Angus Reid organisations on Friday showed the Liberals with 44 and 43 per cent of the popular vote respectively. The Reform Party ended up in the high teens in both polls, while the New Democratic Party had seven per cent in each poll.

The Bloc Quebecois, running candidates only in Quebec, was favoured by more than 50 per cent of Quebeckers in each poll.

In the industrial heartland of Ontario, the Liberals were poised to snatch 80 of the province's 99 seats.

With the Liberals tipped to regain power after nine years in the opposition benches, with two new regional parties competing for official opposition status, and the New Democratic Party headed for the political wilderness, the next Parliament will be oneof the most unusual assemblies in Canadian history.

One indicator of how the Tories have lost favour, even among traditional voters, is that for the first time since 1974, the influential national newspaper, The Globe And Mail, did not endorse them.

Political analysts have blamed failure to deal with resurging Quebec nationalism and the deficit for the Tories abysmal showing in the polls. Ms Campbell incurred the wrath of Canadians for offering little hope to the 1.5 million people unemployed. Having no detailed policy platforms on the campaign trail, Ms Campbell appeared that she was hiding bad news from voters.

Many Canadians have not got over the anger from the last nine years of Conservative Government under the despised former leader, Brian Mulroney, who imposed a controversial goods and services tax and a free trade agreement with the United States.

With a Liberal majority looming, all the major parties spent the closing days of the campaign warning Canadians against giving Mr Chretien a blank cheque.