Canadians are heading to the polls for the third time in four years today to choose their 40th Parliament.

The incumbent prime minister, Stephen Harper, and his main rival, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, took a final lap around the country in an effort to win over undecided voters.

Harper called the elections last month in a bid to grab hold of a majority in the 308-seat Parliament.

After calling the elections, polls showed Harper winning a majority in the House, but his standings fell as the global financial crisis worsened.

Many have described his response to the crisis as slow, while Canada's main stock exchange had its worst per-formance in 70 years.

Notwithstanding, the polls show Harper will lead another minority Conservative government.

The 2006 election resulted in the weakest numerical minority govern-ment since Confederation, but also one that governed more consecutive days as a minority than any other in federal history.